It gives me great pleasure to again welcome the President of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili, here in Brussels.
Overall we are seeing good progress in our bilateral relations. And the strong pro-European stance of the Georgian people is a solid base for Georgia's continued progress in implementing reforms and strengthening democracy and the rule of law.
I am pleased to note that the EU-Georgia Association Agreement will fully enter into force on the 1st of July, and I look forward to working together to reap maximum benefits from it.
We spoke about Georgia's parliamentary elections, due to take place in October. Recent reports about violence against opposition politicians and members of the parliament are of real concern to me. I welcome the fact that the perpetrators have now been charged. Obviously, all steps must now be taken to prevent such incidents in the future. Thank you Mister President for your very clear and tough assessment of these events. What I have heard is really promising.
These elections will be an important test to the strength and resilience of Georgia's democracy. It is our expectation that the Georgian authorities will make every effort to guarantee a respectful, inclusive, and orderly election environment. Free and pluralistic media is an essential precondition for that. I noted with satisfaction the planned involvement of election observers.
I also reiterated to the President the EU's support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders. I underlined our firm commitment to conflict resolution and the policy of non-recognition and engagement. The EU Special Representative and the EU Monitoring Mission underscore this commitment.
Finally, we touched upon Georgia's visa-free aspirations. As you know, last December the European Commission confirmed that Georgia had achieved all the required benchmarks for a positive final decision, which I trust will be forthcoming soon. The Commission's proposal to grant Georgian citizens visa-free travel to the Schengen area is currently being discussed by the Council and the European Parliament.
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Voters are growing disenchanted with the EU – and Britain is far from being an outlier. That is the bottom line of Pew’s latest survey, which offers one of the best guides to opinion across the continent. For EU supporters it makes for sobering reading. We’ve picked out four charts.
Within the general decline in positive views of the EU over the past decade, one country stands out: France. While French views of the EU have see-sawed over the past few years, there was an extraordinary 17 point drop in respondents having a positive view of the EU this year. Only Greece – not included on our chart – has a more negative view (71 per cent have a unfavourable view of the union).
What explains the slide in support? Any gains that came from economic rebound seem to have been wiped out this year by the migration crisis.
Views of how the EU has handled the situation range from poor (Netherlands and Germany) to catastrophic (Sweden and Greece).
Read more