We hope the parties can come together and talk through their differences and reach an agreement that is truly in the best interests of all the citizens of Georgia, the US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan declared in the TV Program Kviris Interview (Interview of the Week) on the Georgian Public Broadcaster.

Kelly Degnan stressed she participated in the renewed negotiations mediated by European Council President Michel’s special envoy Ambassador Christian Danielsson.

“While no agreement was reached last week, it was not for lack of trying. It was a lot of good effort by all the parties. I’m a strong advocate of an immediate resolution to this crisis because I think Georgia has some serious challenges that it needs to be focusing on. But I recognize there are still very deep divides within Georgian society. And it’s the United States strong belief that the place to bridge those divides is in parliament, where members of parliament can debate the issues and adopt legislation that will advance the kinds of reforms that Georgia very much needs at this point in its democratic development. A parliament that is dominated by one party is not healthy,” Kelly Degnan said.

The Ambassador added that the Georgian parliament should be represented by a healthy ruling party and a healthy opposition.

“It’s all of the parties, the ruling party, the opposition party need to have the political courage to take these difficult steps forward. They need to understand that compromise is not a sign of weakness and their supporters need to understand that as well. In fact, compromise is the way to bridge differences as we see in Georgia. It’s a sign of respect to the voters. No party won a majority in last October’s elections. And the simple fact is that democracy cannot function without a willingness to compromise in the best interests of all the people of Georgia,” Ambassador Degnan told the Georgian Public Broadcaster.