I would like to emphasize that in a democracy, the population of a country decides what steps to take, but unfortunately, recently we have seen that the government of the country is not taking certain steps, but some steps are being taken in the opposite direction, towards depriving rather than granting this freedom, – the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, said at a joint press conference after meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Maka Botchorishvili.
According to her, if the process on this path does not end with Georgia’s membership in the European Union, this will be the country’s decision.
“I always tell the EU candidate countries that all and any reforms that are necessary for membership and are required of candidate countries, whether it concerns the rule of law, processes, inclusiveness of all minority groups, building transparent systems, eliminating corruption, promoting a fully market economy and many other issues – we perceive all these reforms as a great value on the way to EU membership. If the process does not end with membership on this path, it is up to the country to decide. Every step on this path is in the interests of the population of that country, this path serves EU integration because it means more freedom, more power for each specific country and provides more prosperity in the future because there will be full involvement on the basis of market economy principles and international trade. This is the future that the EU is happy to offer Georgia. Here too, I would like to emphasize that in a democracy, the population of the country decides what steps to take, but unfortunately, recently, we see that the government of the country is not taking certain steps and some steps are being taken in the opposite direction, towards depriving, not granting, these freedoms,” said Elina Valtonen.
The Finnish Foreign Minister said that her country would be happy if Georgia joined the European Union based on the criteria that she had already spoken about.
“As a member of the European Union, we can say that Finland would be happy if Georgia one day becomes a member of the European Union based on the criteria that I have mentioned.
I have a question mark and it will once again be up to the Georgian people to decide what their future is, but they deserve full inclusion in the decision-making process in this political system,” she said.
Elina Valtonen: Finland would be happy if Georgia one day becomes a member of the European Union – it will be up to the Georgian people to decide what their future is, they deserve full involvement in the decision-making process
