Europe told us: you are Europeans and joining Europe depends on nothing but you. Now it’s our turn! The President of Georgia said this while presenting her annual report at the plenary session in the Parliament.

“The granting of candidate status is a new opportunity for the future of the country. First of all, the possibility of strengthening security: the most tragic and dangerous thing for us is to be in isolation and, therefore, to remain alone and face to face with Russia. The candidate status and the start of negotiations tomorrow mean entering the European security space, thus we regain the role of an active player on the international and regional stage.

Therefore, we are becoming a direct partner of Europe, which has recently shown so much strength and principle. It has shown that it is a reliable and solid partner for tomorrow’s safe and peaceful region. An unmistakable sign of its responsibility and democracy is the fact that it managed to set an example of dialogue and democracy, where consensus was achieved and the majority’s dictates were not even considered.

Europe also means strengthening independence: the European family is an irreplaceable space where our identity, culture and values will be protected and presented. Russification is not an alternative! We have gone through it.

This memory has not been erased in us. This path was more tragically passed by some of our brother, small, Caucasian nations, which today are already considered extinct. The Abkhazian language, culture and identity are fatally on this path! Europe is the space where free nations, many languages, minorities, regions, diverse culture and identity are protected by equality and law”, - said Salome Zourabichvili.