Georgian president Giorgi Margvelashvili speaking at the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee discussed the Eastern Partnership ahead of the Riga summit on 21-22 May. He said the Eastern Partnership has had a positive impact on Georgia, not only because we reached the association agreement, but also because it gave us opportunities and mechanisms for reforming our economy, society and our political system and for engaging more actively with our European partners.
Margvelashvili remarked that the partnership was based on proper principles, giving more for more. If you wanted to do more, you are getting more. We have to maintain the agenda and the spirit of the Eastern Partnership, which is going to bring prosperity, stability and a better future, not only to the countries of the Eastern Partnership, but also to their neighbours, including Russia, if they get involved.
He said that to deal with the Russia, the EU should, “The policy of engaging with Russia and making it a more European country and giving it an opportunity for economic, cultural, social and political partnerships is the right thing to do. Russia has great potential, a great culture and a significant economy. What the Russian Federation needs is a better demography, a reformed economy and it needs to move towards modernising society. These issues are not solved by attacking your neighbours, but by working together with Europeans.”
