Lithuania will add Georgia to new European conventions
By Messenger Staff
Monday, September 21
“The occupation of our territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia (Tskhinvali) is the price we pay for our Euro-Atlantic aspiration,” Georgia’s Minister of Justice (MoJ) Thea Tsulukiani said during her visit to Lithuania on September 18.
The Georgian official, who has been invited by her Lithuanian counterpart to the country, has already met with high-ranking Lithuanian officials, including the country’s Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, the head of Seimas (the Parliament of Lithuania) and others.
The sides discussed Georgia’s visa-liberation prospects, occupation problems and the pace of the reforms Georgia required to implement for to become the part of European space.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius stressed that Georgia revealed “excellent” results in the process of fulfilling its obligations for gaining visa-liberation with the European Union (EU) countries.
“I am sure it was not easy in such a short period of time,” Butkevicius said.
The Lithuanian Minister of Justice Juozas Bernatonis promised to support Georgia in receiving visa-free travel with Europe.
He stressed that Lithuania would add Georgia with the conventions the country had not been attached to before.
“It will be only part of the technical-consulting support we will offer Georgia,” Bernatonis said, noting that the experience of his country, which already enjoys the benefits of EU membership, would be helpful for Georgia.
The Minister thanked his counterpart for the constant support and emphasized that Georgia fulfilled all the obligations it took before EU.
“Now we are waiting for a political decision of the organisation this year, in December,” Tsulukiani said.
In the course of her meeting with Lithuania’s Foreign Minister, Linas Linkevicius, Tsulukiani stressed that the current Georgian Government has created a state based on the strength of state institutions and not on certain individuals.
“Now the court is absolutely free and it provides fair verdicts that was impossible under the previous government,” the Georgian Minister said.
In response, the Lithuanian official stressed that he hoped for positive assessments from EU in terms of Georgia.
“I hope that the EU will open its doors for Georgia at the end of the year,” Linkevicius said.
The occupation of the Georgian territories and the successful reforms of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia were discussed during the meeting with the Loreta Grauziniene, Speaker of Seimas.
The Georgian Minister stressed that the aim of the Russian occupation was Georgia to stop thinking about Europe. However, she underscored that it was impossible as Georgians made the European choice long ago.
