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Speaker 1: Now Georgia's prospects of joining the EU r jeopardy after

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Speaker 1: the ruling party passed a foreign agents bill. Now, under

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Speaker 1: the law, foreign funded NGOs and independent media would have

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Speaker 1: to register with the government. Now, the ruling parties as

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Speaker 1: a bill is necessary for transparency, but the legislation has

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Speaker 1: triggered massive protests and drawn condemnation from the US, from

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Speaker 1: the EU and from NATO. Well, we're delighted to be

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Speaker 1: joined by Salome subar Shally, the President of Georgia, who

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Speaker 1: has said she will veto the law matter. President, thank

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Speaker 1: you so much for joining us. Do you think that

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Speaker 1: this law could still be stopped or reversed?

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Speaker 2: It has been stopped and rejected last year by the

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Speaker 2: same mass demonstrations and protests from our European and.

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Speaker 3: Foreign American partners.

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Speaker 2: But it has been reintroduced despite the promise by the

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Speaker 2: government that they will never do so, and the way

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Speaker 2: they have introduced it and debated it in the parliament

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Speaker 2: without allowing the opposition really to be present even does

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Speaker 2: not make me hope that they're going to withdraw it.

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Speaker 2: And frankly, by now it doesn't matter very much whether

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Speaker 2: they withstraw this law or not. Because it's a whole

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Speaker 2: picture that is very concerning all other laws that have

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Speaker 2: been going running against the recommendations made by European Union

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Speaker 2: in order for US to be able to apply for

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Speaker 2: opening negotiations of accession. So the whole range on one side,

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Speaker 2: laws that go against the absence of laws that are

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Speaker 2: required in the fields where we are supposed to make progress,

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Speaker 2: there is nothing to be done. And the third part

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Speaker 2: is a rhetoric which is very anti Western, anti European,

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Speaker 2: from the top to the bottom of the ruling party,

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Speaker 2: from the represident is freely to older leaders.

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Speaker 3: They speak the same language and call.

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Speaker 2: Our partners of thirty years that have really built our

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Speaker 2: state and its independence and its development. They're called foreign

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Speaker 2: agents that want to subvert the country, that want to destabilized,

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Speaker 2: that want to withdraw the government. This is a very

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Speaker 2: Russian language. That's Russia. That's what Russia is always saying.

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Speaker 3: Madame President, what it is prompted?

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Speaker 1: So, how much concern has there been in your discussions

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Speaker 1: with the US and with the EU, and what does

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Speaker 1: this mean to possibly exceed you membership.

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Speaker 2: Well, it means that we are at a very concerning

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Speaker 2: point that the measure is taken, and the turn taken

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Speaker 2: by the authorities is not leaving us in that direction,

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Speaker 2: and that's why you see these lassive demonstrations up to

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Speaker 2: two hundred thousand people, and it's a thirty seventh stage,

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Speaker 2: thirty eighth stay of demonstrations, and that explains it's this

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Speaker 2: major concern that we might be losing a very important

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Speaker 2: chance and that chance might not come back in the future,

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Speaker 2: and that would be the responsibility of the government. So

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Speaker 2: there is concern in the society, There is concern among

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Speaker 2: our partners. But we still have a chance because we

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Speaker 2: have closed by elections next October. And I think that

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Speaker 2: after this very clear demonstration expression of the will of

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Speaker 2: the people on the streets, now we need to have

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Speaker 2: a very.

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Speaker 3: Clear expression of the will of the people.

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Speaker 2: In the elections to confirm that the road they want

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Speaker 2: is a road.

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Speaker 3: To Europe and nothing else. So it will be a

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Speaker 3: kind of thread.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Are you, in more immediate time actually concerned about

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Speaker 1: the increase in violence and the crackdown on protesters.

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Speaker 2: I am concerned when you have in a rule thirty

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Speaker 2: days of demonstrations. Well, we are very pacific protesters to

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Speaker 2: underline that, because there are basically young people, but not

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Speaker 2: only and there has not been one single car burnt

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Speaker 2: or warn't shop vandalized during all these demonstrations, So that

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Speaker 2: shows the type of demonstrations we have where people sing

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Speaker 2: and dance.

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Speaker 3: But of course the violence.

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Speaker 2: That is exerted by the police forces and especially by

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Speaker 2: special forces can always escalate. That's why I think that

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Speaker 2: we have to be very careful that our partners have

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Speaker 2: to put pressure on the authorities to stop the intimidation

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Speaker 2: that we have. People are arrested, including their homes because

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Speaker 2: they have been seen.

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Speaker 3: And photographed on the demonstrations.

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Speaker 2: So that should be the pressure that we need today

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Speaker 2: from our partners, Europeans and Western partners, and then we

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Speaker 2: will need support to prepare for the elections.

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Speaker 1: Madam President, you've called this a you know this law

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Speaker 1: Russian law. Does this go to the fact that basically

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Speaker 1: it's a battle in Georgia over who to align with

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Speaker 1: Russia or the West.

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Speaker 3: There's no battle in Georgia.

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Speaker 2: Georgia, you have to remember, is a country that has

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Speaker 2: been fighting for its independence from many countries over the centuries,

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Speaker 2: but from Russia still since eighteen o one.

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Speaker 3: So it's very clear for us.

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Speaker 2: So who is the country that wants to occupy Russia

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Speaker 2: Georgia and who are our friends partners that have been

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Speaker 2: supporting Georgia's independence and development.

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Speaker 3: And Georgia's independence is.

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Speaker 2: Directly today for eighty percent of the population, and that

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Speaker 2: explains the high numbers linked to Georgia's independence.

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Speaker 3: We know that those two cannot be deluined.

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Speaker 2: That's why such a reaction, and that's why such a

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Speaker 2: strong support to our European future.

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Speaker 1: But why do you think the founder of the ruling

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Speaker 1: party actually wants us law.

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Speaker 2: That you have to ask to them. It doesn't make sense.

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Speaker 2: They might even have won the elections if they're not

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Speaker 2: presented this law. And because their speech until now, their

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Speaker 2: narrative until then nas December, despite some measures that were

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Speaker 2: not very comprehensible, the narrative in December was that we

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Speaker 2: are going towards the European Union. We are the ones

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Speaker 2: that made that possible. And suddenly we have the narrative

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Speaker 2: that you can hear in the speech of the president

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Speaker 2: of the party and infially on twenty nine of April,

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Speaker 2: which is a war on our Western and European partners.

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Speaker 1: Madam President, thank you so much for joining us today.

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Speaker 1: That was Salomon Lurabash really thank you. The President of Georgia.

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Speaker 1: There