French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna met with Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili to discuss the prospects for Georgia's integration with the European Union and expressed her support for Tbilisi's Euro-Atlantic aspirations, the French Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th March, 2023) French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna met with Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili to discuss the prospects for Georgia's integration with the European Union and expressed her support for Tbilisi's Euro-Atlantic aspirations, the French Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
"On March 13, the foreign minister received Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili. The minister said that France supports the process of Georgia's integration with the EU," the statement issued by the ministry said.
Colonna told Zourabichvili, who herself used to be a French diplomat before she was elected president of her forebears' country, to implement reforms aimed at strengthening the rule of law in accordance with the 12 recommendations given by the European Commission to Tbilisi in June 2022 so that it could obtain candidate status for membership in the EU, the statement said.
The French foreign minister welcomed the Georgian government's decision to drop the controversial bill on foreign agents and urged the authorities of the Transcaucasian country to stay vigilant to threats to national unity, according to the statement.
Last June, the European Council granted candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova but not Georgia, saying the latter had yet to implement the recommended reforms, including strengthening its democratic institutions, maintaining fundamental rights and freedoms, tackling corruption, combating organized crime, and involving civil society in decision-making processes.
On March 7, the Georgian parliament passed a bill in first reading requiring mandatory registration of entities receiving funding from abroad, which caused mass protests over the following two days. The police dispersed the demonstrations using tear gas and water cannons and carried out 133 detentions. The parliament voted against the bill at the second reading on March 10.
