PM Kobakhidze: We are optimistic that attitudes will change, we want to join the EU with dignity

“We are optimistic that the trends and the attitudes will change. We want to join the EU with dignity,” Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said at the EU Enlargement Summit in Brussels, organized by Euronews.

Kobakhidze said the European Union needed to adopt a different approach toward Georgia.

“Georgia was part of the Soviet Union for around 70 years, and we remember those times. I was quite young, but I still remember when Moscow would say something and Georgia had to follow. That is not an appropriate approach in a democratic society. We want a different approach in Europe, and we are optimistic that this approach will change. We are not pupils. We are not students.

For 70 years, we were part of the Soviet Union. I was young at the time, and this is what used to happen: whatever Moscow said, Georgia had to carry out. This was not an appropriate approach in a democratic society. A different approach is needed in Europe, and we are optimistic that attitudes will change. We are not puppets,” Kobakhidze said.