Salomé Zourabichvili, president of Georgia since 2018, spoke to Le Monde in Tbilisi on Sunday, November 12, four days after the European Commission gave its green light for the country to be granted official candidate status for the European Union. She analyzed the challenges this country in the Caucasus faces, as well as the role of oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, who runs Georgia from behind the scenes.
I don't want to name any countries, but there have already been precedents. It's a strategically sound decision. A negative opinion would have been a gift to Russia and would have encouraged it to step up the pressure on Georgia to become a gray zone and win some of the points it is losing in Ukraine. It is also a recognition of the European desire of the people. A second rejection [after that of June 2022] would have been a disappointment.
The population has a long Soviet past and knows what the official propaganda means, so it's clear-sighted and will remain vigilant over the coming months. I'm not worried. This positive opinion has one fundamental effect: it forces the authorities to take a pro-European position, which hasn't happened for months. If the opposition, which is fragmented, wants to take advantage of this new situation, it will have to campaign differently.
As you know, the government has more leverage over me than vice versa [in October, the president, whose powers are limited, was the subject of a failed attempt by the government to remove her from office]. To quote Antonio Guterres [UN secretary general], I would say that I have no power except that of the spoken word, but that word counts for a lot with the population (especially in an election year), with the opposition and with our foreign partners, for whom I am, de facto, the most pro-European representative. I use my veto every time a law goes against the spirit or the letter of European recommendations. It is revoked every time, but it has a public warning effect.
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