TBILISI, Jun 14Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili said that during her visit to Brussels, she was faced with a «difficult picture» and a «corrupted case», which implies that Georgia in the «Associated Trio» with Ukraine and Moldova has moved from the front position to the last place. Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova last year launched a new format of cooperation with the European Union — «Associated Trio». Following the results of the International Conference in Batumi, the Presidents of the three countries signed a declaration, once again confirming their aspirations to become full members of the EU. All three countries this year, against the backdrop of the situation in Ukraine, have applied for the status of a candidate member of the European Union. Recently, the European Parliament adopted a resolution «Violation of media freedom and safety of journalists in Georgia», which criticizes the Georgian Dream government for the situation with press freedom. The document also calls for sanctions against the founder of the ruling party, Bidzina Ivanishvili.Zelensky's office accused Georgia of self-interest due to its refusal to support the sanctions»In Brussels, I was met with what can be called a spoiled case. The Associated Trio's declaration signed last year, which was signed on our initiative, was an important milestone. Then it was clear «Georgia held the leading position. The tainted case implies that a year later Georgia moved to last place. This was manifested in various directions, and the first among them was the adoption of a resolution of the European Parliament,» Zurabishvili said at a briefing, adding that in Brussels she faced «a rather difficult picture.» The head of state criticized the ruling Georgian Dream party, accusing it of inaction in the process of European integration. She stressed that the Georgian side «annoyed all the deputies of the European Parliament» and «all European institutions.» According to Zurabishvili, the European deputies had questions regarding Georgia, and the reason for this was also «the manifestation of a completely inappropriate attitude of Georgia towards the friendly country of Ukraine and its leadership.» «According to Georgian traditions, we know that when a person and a country are at war, we should endure everything from them and not enter into some kind of senseless polemics. It seems that we have forgotten this tradition as well. In particular, the approach and rhetoric regarding sanctions is also incomprehensible to our partners and, at least, part of the population. We seem to have joined the the most important financial sanctions, but at the same time we say that we did not do this,» the president added. Moldova's prospects for joining the EU
