We offer open, public debate with EC representatives on all issues, PM says

“We are proposing an open, public debate on all issues with representatives of the European Commission,” Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said at the EU Enlargement Summit in Brussels, organized by Euronews.

Kobakhidze said that the information contained in the European Commission’s report did not reflect reality, which was why the Georgian side was proposing open, public debates.

“We are offering the European Commission a public and open debate. We can confirm it in that debate. That’s why we are suggesting a public discussion with European Commission representatives: we are completely confident that everything in this report is not in line with reality. Let’s have a public debate on it together with the European Commission representatives.

This report is fully political. But when it comes to the real, fact-based assessment, even the European Commission publishes reports based on expert assessments. According to those assessments, Georgia is one of the most democratic countries among the candidates. Rule of law and human rights are protected in this country,” Kobakhidze said.

The Prime Minister stressed that dialogue should begin and that it should take place publicly.

“Our offer is to start talking, and to do it publicly, not behind closed doors. Georgian society, and society in Europe, should know the content of this discussion.

That’s our basic, main offer: an open, public debate on each and every issue — democracy in Georgia, the rule of law, economic trends, the transparency law we adopted a couple of years ago, and so on. Let’s have a public debate, because we are fully confident that we are right. We are right to take steps to protect our sovereignty and to make Georgia a more developed, more democratic and more transparent country. That’s our desire,” Kobakhidze said.