Ambassador Julianne Smith, the U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO, on Wednesday, said the U.S. wishes the Georgian government “to listen to the will of the people and let that drive policy going forward.”

“And that has been our push with the ‘Dream’ party and with all members of the current administration in Georgia,” Ambassador Smith told GPB First Channel.

“ What’s been very clear is that the people of Georgia strongly desire to move towards Western institutions, a very deeply held belief that Georgia needs to become a member of the European Union and that Georgia needs to become a member of the NATO Alliance, whether you’re looking at polling data across the country of Georgia, recently or in years past, or whether you’re looking at the footage of the hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands of people of all ages coming out and making the case to move against this foreign interference law, and express their strong desire for Euro Atlantic integration.

I think it’s hard to miss what the people of Georgia want and so for that reason, you’ve heard the United States, we have condemned movement towards this foreign interference law and what the ‘Dream’ party has moved towards in recent weeks, you’ve heard that the United States is looking to undertake actions for those that undermine democracy and work against democracy inside Georgia. We’ve particularly looked closely at our visa policy. You’ve heard the Secretary talk about this.

So I think the U.S. position is clear. And frankly, I think you’ve heard very similar messages coming from other allies across the NATO Alliance. You’ve certainly heard similar messages from members of the European Union and from EU and NATO officials here in  Brussels. I think what we want the government to do is to listen to the will of the people and let that drive policy going forward. And that has been our push with the ‘Dream’ party and with all members of the current administration in Georgia. So, the US position I think is pretty clear on this,” Julianne Smith stated.