“We still maintain our declared goal of joining the European Union, but by then, by 2030, for example, we hope that the EU will have overcome its catastrophic problems and that trends will have changed,” Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze stated on the Georgian Public Broadcaster’s programme “Topic of the Day”.

According to the Head of Government, there are alarming trends within the EU: in 2008, the European economy accounted for 30% of the global economy, but over the course of 17 years, this has shrunk to just 17.5%, representing a complete catastrophe.

“There was also the summit held in Denmark, where specific leaders came and spoke about the need for a reset. They approached us on their own initiative and discussed all of this with me, as well as with Maka Botchorishvili. There is genuine interest, but unfortunately, the current situation means that these forces do not hold the decisive voice. Conversely, the dominant influence belongs to other forces, which we refer to as the ‘deep state’. This is the reality we face today, which is why the situation remains quite challenging.

Generally speaking, there are serious and concerning trends within the EU, particularly in its economic sphere. The EU’s share of the global economy was 30% in 2008; over the past 17 years, it has declined to just 17.5%, which is a catastrophe. The EU, built on six decades of peace, generated immense prosperity; this was what set the EU and each of its member states apart by 2008. Since then, however, the economic trends have been catastrophic. Although it still maintains a relatively high level of prosperity, this is largely due to accumulated wealth from uninterrupted peace from 1945 until 2008. Since that year, however, very serious economic challenges have emerged,” stated Irakli Kobakhidze.

According to him, there are also grave problems and catastrophic trends in terms of identity.

“We are ready for dialogue on any topic, but the main thing is that no one should put our country’s national interests on the scales as a bargaining chip; that is our sole criterion,” the Prime Minister went on to say.

According to Irakli Kobakhidze, the government will defend the country’s national interests to the end.

“When someone tells you that you must encourage a revolution with your own hands against your own country, and in exchange, they’ll give you some privilege, of course, that’s not the right dilemma for us. We cannot put national interests on the scales. This applied to the same Transparency Law. The only reason why these latest attempted revolutions were unsuccessful was the Transparency Law. This law was essentially a legislation concerning the transparency of revolutions.

In those circumstances, when we made revolutionary processes transparent, these processes weakened. In many directions, they no longer wished to fund revolutions transparently, which they had previously done without any restrictions. When someone tells you that you must repeal the Transparency Law, thereby giving us the opportunity to encourage revolutions there and so forth, of course, that cannot be a bargaining chip. Therefore, we will defend our national interests to the end, and at the same time, we will do everything to fulfil our obligations, including those arising from the Association Agreement, obligations arising from the DCFTA will continue,” the Prime Minister stated.