Speaker 1: Now Georgia's prospects of joining the EU r jeopardy after
Speaker 1: the ruling party passed a foreign agents bill. Now, under
Speaker 1: the law, foreign funded NGOs and independent media would have
Speaker 1: to register with the government. Now, the ruling parties as
Speaker 1: a bill is necessary for transparency, but the legislation has
Speaker 1: triggered massive protests and drawn condemnation from the US, from
Speaker 1: the EU and from NATO. Well, we're delighted to be
Speaker 1: joined by Salome subar Shally, the President of Georgia, who
Speaker 1: has said she will veto the law matter. President, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for joining us. Do you think that
Speaker 1: this law could still be stopped or reversed?
Speaker 2: It has been stopped and rejected last year by the
Speaker 2: same mass demonstrations and protests from our European and.
Speaker 3: Foreign American partners.
Speaker 2: But it has been reintroduced despite the promise by the
Speaker 2: government that they will never do so, and the way
Speaker 2: they have introduced it and debated it in the parliament
Speaker 2: without allowing the opposition really to be present even does
Speaker 2: not make me hope that they're going to withdraw it.
Speaker 2: And frankly, by now it doesn't matter very much whether
Speaker 2: they withstraw this law or not. Because it's a whole
Speaker 2: picture that is very concerning all other laws that have
Speaker 2: been going running against the recommendations made by European Union
Speaker 2: in order for US to be able to apply for
Speaker 2: opening negotiations of accession. So the whole range on one side,
Speaker 2: laws that go against the absence of laws that are
Speaker 2: required in the fields where we are supposed to make progress,
Speaker 2: there is nothing to be done. And the third part
Speaker 2: is a rhetoric which is very anti Western, anti European,
Speaker 2: from the top to the bottom of the ruling party,
Speaker 2: from the represident is freely to older leaders.
Speaker 3: They speak the same language and call.
Speaker 2: Our partners of thirty years that have really built our
Speaker 2: state and its independence and its development. They're called foreign
Speaker 2: agents that want to subvert the country, that want to destabilized,
Speaker 2: that want to withdraw the government. This is a very
Speaker 2: Russian language. That's Russia. That's what Russia is always saying.
Speaker 3: Madame President, what it is prompted?
Speaker 1: So, how much concern has there been in your discussions
Speaker 1: with the US and with the EU, and what does
Speaker 1: this mean to possibly exceed you membership.
Speaker 2: Well, it means that we are at a very concerning
Speaker 2: point that the measure is taken, and the turn taken
Speaker 2: by the authorities is not leaving us in that direction,
Speaker 2: and that's why you see these lassive demonstrations up to
Speaker 2: two hundred thousand people, and it's a thirty seventh stage,
Speaker 2: thirty eighth stay of demonstrations, and that explains it's this
Speaker 2: major concern that we might be losing a very important
Speaker 2: chance and that chance might not come back in the future,
Speaker 2: and that would be the responsibility of the government. So
Speaker 2: there is concern in the society, There is concern among
Speaker 2: our partners. But we still have a chance because we
Speaker 2: have closed by elections next October. And I think that
Speaker 2: after this very clear demonstration expression of the will of
Speaker 2: the people on the streets, now we need to have
Speaker 2: a very.
Speaker 3: Clear expression of the will of the people.
Speaker 2: In the elections to confirm that the road they want
Speaker 2: is a road.
Speaker 3: To Europe and nothing else. So it will be a
Speaker 3: kind of thread.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Are you, in more immediate time actually concerned about
Speaker 1: the increase in violence and the crackdown on protesters.
Speaker 2: I am concerned when you have in a rule thirty
Speaker 2: days of demonstrations. Well, we are very pacific protesters to
Speaker 2: underline that, because there are basically young people, but not
Speaker 2: only and there has not been one single car burnt
Speaker 2: or warn't shop vandalized during all these demonstrations, So that
Speaker 2: shows the type of demonstrations we have where people sing
Speaker 2: and dance.
Speaker 3: But of course the violence.
Speaker 2: That is exerted by the police forces and especially by
Speaker 2: special forces can always escalate. That's why I think that
Speaker 2: we have to be very careful that our partners have
Speaker 2: to put pressure on the authorities to stop the intimidation
Speaker 2: that we have. People are arrested, including their homes because
Speaker 2: they have been seen.
Speaker 3: And photographed on the demonstrations.
Speaker 2: So that should be the pressure that we need today
Speaker 2: from our partners, Europeans and Western partners, and then we
Speaker 2: will need support to prepare for the elections.
Speaker 1: Madam President, you've called this a you know this law
Speaker 1: Russian law. Does this go to the fact that basically
Speaker 1: it's a battle in Georgia over who to align with
Speaker 1: Russia or the West.
Speaker 3: There's no battle in Georgia.
Speaker 2: Georgia, you have to remember, is a country that has
Speaker 2: been fighting for its independence from many countries over the centuries,
Speaker 2: but from Russia still since eighteen o one.
Speaker 3: So it's very clear for us.
Speaker 2: So who is the country that wants to occupy Russia
Speaker 2: Georgia and who are our friends partners that have been
Speaker 2: supporting Georgia's independence and development.
Speaker 3: And Georgia's independence is.
Speaker 2: Directly today for eighty percent of the population, and that
Speaker 2: explains the high numbers linked to Georgia's independence.
Speaker 3: We know that those two cannot be deluined.
Speaker 2: That's why such a reaction, and that's why such a
Speaker 2: strong support to our European future.
Speaker 1: But why do you think the founder of the ruling
Speaker 1: party actually wants us law.
Speaker 2: That you have to ask to them. It doesn't make sense.
Speaker 2: They might even have won the elections if they're not
Speaker 2: presented this law. And because their speech until now, their
Speaker 2: narrative until then nas December, despite some measures that were
Speaker 2: not very comprehensible, the narrative in December was that we
Speaker 2: are going towards the European Union. We are the ones
Speaker 2: that made that possible. And suddenly we have the narrative
Speaker 2: that you can hear in the speech of the president
Speaker 2: of the party and infially on twenty nine of April,
Speaker 2: which is a war on our Western and European partners.
Speaker 1: Madam President, thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 1: That was Salomon Lurabash really thank you. The President of Georgia.
Speaker 1: There