“As long as Georgian people and Georgian nation are on the path of democratic reforms and closer integration with the EU as well as stronger transatlantic ties, you’ll have our support. But, if there is no solution to the political crisis, there will be some rethinking from the EU side,” MEP Marina Kaljurand from the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament told GPB regarding the EU-mediated negotiations between the government and opposition.

According to Kaljurand, there might be impacts on specific policies without the solution to the political crisis.

“Georgia is a very close partner to the EU. At the moment, even with the mediation process and with the visit of Charles Michel to Georgia, you can see the EU take Georgia very seriously. It’s the commitment to Georgia’s political crisis and to the solution on the highest level that there can be in the EU. So that’s why I think it’s I’d like to reiterate once again how important it is to find the solution to the political crisis. EU will not turn its back to Georgia. As long as the Georgian people and the Georgian nation are on the path of democratic reforms and closer integration with the EU, and stronger transatlantic ties, you’ll have our support. But if there is no solution to the political crisis, there will be some changes. There will be some rethinking from the EU side,” the MEP stated.

According to Kaljurand, the EU will always support Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and will never recognize the occupation. But if no solution, Georgia-EU ties might be not so close.

“EU will never recognize the occupation of Georgia. Full stop. Nobody should speculate about that. EU will always support Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and will never recognize the occupation. But I think that our ties might be not so close, high-level visits might reduce. There might be no second looking’s or second reviews of the financial instruments. So, of course, it will have an impact on Georgia-EU relations. I don’t want to underestimate that.

Look at the statement that several MEPs and I made ten days ago. It was all across political parties of the European Parliament, it doesn’t happen often with conservatives and liberals are saying the same things. In this case, we were because we came together, and we wanted to make it very clear and say very openly and frankly to the Georgian politicians that they do not have time. They have to act. If they do not act now, it will have an impact on the EU-Georgia relations.

I want to tell Georgian people, EU will never leave Georgia. We’ll never accept occupation, but of course, without the solution to the political crisis, there might be impacts on specific policies,” the MEP told GPB.

Georgian opposition parties that won seats in the Georgian Parliament of the 10th Convocation believe the 2020 parliamentary elections were a fraud. They have been demanding repeat parliamentary elections and the release of the United National Movement Chair, Nika Melia, and the co-founder of the TV channel Mtavari Arkhi Giorgi Rurua.

The second EU-mediated attempt to solve political crises in Georgia failed earlier this week. EU mediator Christian Danielsson said he proposed a solution that puts the country’s interest first to the parties, but none of the political actors agreed on the solution.