Parliament initials AA in July
By Tamar Lagurashvili
Thursday, June 19
Parliament Chair David Usupashvili stated at the bureau meeting on June 18 that the Association Agreement (AA) with the EU will be ratified in the Georgian parliament in July.
He emphasizes that discussing the issue and initialing the AA with the EU by the Parliament is “crucial” for Georgia.
Alex Petriashvili, the State Minister on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, pointed out that the government is aware of any risk the country might face either in the economic field or certain provocations from the federation.
According to him, the government is actively cooperating with its European and American partners and they express readiness to assist us in case of any complications.
“In the case there are changes in Georgian-Russian relations after signing the AA, our foreign allies are ready to stand by us,” Petriashvili claims.
The minister stressed that the EU did the same concerning Moldova and presumably we will take the same steps.
Georgia’s Special Envoy to Russia Zura Abashidze positively assesses the situation and claims that Georgia will not face threats from Russia in terms of signing the AA.
“We have received explicit signals from Russian officials that they will not interfere in Georgian-EU relations,” he said.
Experts are not unanimous over the threats from Russia and peaceful developments of signing the AA.
One analyst believes that Russia might close its market after Georgia signs the EU agreement. However, others think that the European market is better, more reliable and beneficial for Georgia.
