After mediation from the EU's Charles Michel, Georgia's future now firmly looks to Europe. The Georgian president Salome Zourabichvili, alongside the European Council, chose Euronews as the platform of choice to celebrate the news.
ADVERTISEMENTEuropean Council President Charles Michel helped broker the 19 April Agreement between political parties in Georgia, thus ending the country's well-documented political crisis.
The next day, President Michel came to Georgia and met with President Salome Zourabichvili, where the two agreed on writing an op-ed together on the future of Georgia-EU relations, and they chose Euronews as Europe’s premier media outlet to host the message.
"We, the President of Georgia and the President of the European Council, want to express our deep satisfaction in seeing this deal agreed and signed by the ruling and opposition parties. This agreement puts an end to a crisis that could have disrupted the democratic advancement achieved over the past decades and weakened Georgia’s progress along its European path," the op-ed read.
The political situation has been tense since the ruling Georgian Dream party won the Oct. 31 parliamentary election.
However, the United National Movement said it was rigged and refused to concede defeat, demanding a rerun.
Win-Win?
An agreement such as this is hailed in Brussels as a big win for the EU in a crucial part of the continent.
"The EU can count on a stable, fiercely pro-European partner in a region essential to Europe’s values, security and connectivity. At a time when the regional landscape is being reshaped, Georgia matters more than ever," Michel and Zourabichvili wrote.
And for Georgians, they now have their biggest donor as an agreement partner.
"To this day, the EU has been Georgia’s largest donor with over 200 concrete ongoing projects and a total budget of 500 million euros," Wednesday's announcement details.
In parallel, to mark the special relationship between the EU and its Associated partners in the Eastern Partnership, the Georgian president and the European Council propose to hold, in the coming months, a leaders' meeting, with the Presidents of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova.
"At a time of increased geopolitical pressures in the region, there is no better answer than the demonstration just given by Europe and Georgia," Michel and Zourabichvili wrote. "Decisive European political support to a small but vibrant democracy and to avoid any form of destabilisation."