“The European Union must slam its fist against the illegitimate government,” urges President Salomé Zourabichvili

The Russian threat weighs on other former Soviet republics, warns the head of state who refuses to surrender her mandate at the end of the year. “It’s something that will be extended if it’s not here in Georgia that we stop it,” she says. “Now is no longer the time for ambiguous messages,” she insists.

“The European Union must punch its fist”urges Monday, December 2 on France inter Salomé Zourabichvili, president of Georgia, after new pro-European demonstrations “generalized to all cities” since last week. The Georgian head of state particularly points the finger at Russia's role in the legislative elections at the end of October, won by the ruling party, but immediately denounced by the opposition.

Salomé Zourabichvili refuses to surrender her mandate at the end of the year, accusing “the elections to have been stolen and violated. They elected a government which is not legitimate, coming from an non-legitimate Parliament in which the opposition parties do not sit and they will elect on December 14 a president who will not be more legitimate”she laments. So she calls “European countries to be more careful” because she fears that the Russian threat weighs on other former Soviet republics, evoking the “Romania and Moldova”. “It’s something that’s going to be expanded if it’s not stopped here in Georgia,” she fears.

The Georgian president explains having filed “an appeal to the Constitutional Court” in front of which “Today demonstrations will take place to force him to speak out” on the election. The President recalls the important role incumbent on the Constitutional Court: “She has in her hands the possibility of ending the crisis in a stable manner and getting the country out of this grotesque situation, in which a Russian regime violates the Georgian constitution and tries by force to stay in power”she insists.

Salomé Zourabichvili also recalls that these results “are not recognized either by the population or by democratic European partners”. She thus calls on Europe to maintain its positions, to continue “not to recognize this illegitimate government”. Salomé Zourabichvili believes that there is on the part of her fellow citizens “a very strong need for clear moral and political support”. “Now is no longer the time for ambiguous messages”she insists. The head of state explains that behind the situation in Georgia is played out “a challenge for the Europe of tomorrow”. “Russia has started a hybrid strategy here to get the Europeans out,” but this time “not through war, as it did not work in Ukraine”, she emphasizes.