Georgia's President claims that the state government has refused her requests to visit Europe

President Salome Zourabichvili acknowledged suspicions that the government was limiting her overseas working travels given the region's developing crisis in her parliamentary address.

"On February 26, 2022, I was denied permission to travel to Paris, Brussels, Berlin, and Warsaw in writing," President Zourabichvili stated.

"I feel that such a strategy and limits are harmful to our nation, which is positioned in such a challenging region."

According to the President, she was then obliged to rely on personal contacts to go to Paris and Brussels to meet with leaders.

President Zourabichvili emphasised that two problems — the EU membership application and assistance for Ukraine — urge authorities to work together.

"In this circumstance, with my personal meetings or interviews with foreign media, I tried my best to offer Georgia its position in these processes," she said, "my travel to Europe persuaded me there is a fresh, real potential for EU membership, a real readiness from our partners."

"So that no temptation existed for Georgia to be ignored or treated differently from Ukraine or Moldova."

"If what the President stated [about paying visits without agreeing with the government] is accurate, and she most likely told the truth, then she has broken the Constitution," Georgian Dream party head and MP Irakli Kobakhidze said. “We'll figure things out."

Zourabichvili requests Zelensky to return Ambassador to Tbilisi 

In a speech to the Georgian parliament President Salome Zourabichvili called for Ukrainian Ambassador to return to Tbilisi so that "the bonds between our two nations in these dreadful periods be completely renewed, stronger, and unshakeable."

Zelensky summoned Georgia's envoy for the Georgian government's "immoral posture" on Russia sanctions and its refusal to allow a charter flight to deploy volunteer fighters to Ukraine.

"Any attempt to sow mistrust between us and Ukraine is unacceptably dangerous. That's not going to happen!" President Zourabichvili made a point.

"Any conflict between Ukraine and Georgia is good to Russia and Russia alone," she stated.

In this context, President Zourabichvili reaffirmed the prior commitment not to pardon Mikheil Saakashvili, the former President of Georgia who is now a Ukrainian citizen and official. "Reviving this subject in the midst of the Ukraine conflict would only exacerbate domestic divisiveness."

The ruling Georgian Dream is slammed by Zourabichvili

During her yearly address to the parliament, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili chastised the government, as well as the governing Georgian Dream and opposition parties.

The President stated in her speech that the GD and other opposition parties are "sinning against the country."

"I don't understand, and I can't take it," the President said to the parliamentarians and cabinet members in attendance, "that instead of eliminating quarrelling, arguing, animosity, destructive confrontation, and polarisation, you, assembled here, forget what our coat of arms displays: Strength lies in Unity."

"Do you not grasp the duty you all have jointly before your people?" she said. "The public is far more watchful, conscious, brave, and most importantly, unified than you are."

"Instead of seeking consensus, the opposition dismisses each administration speech or move as pro-Russian," the President stated.

"Both tactics are detrimental and constitute a risk for the country both at home and abroad, aside from being absolutely inappropriate and reminiscent of Soviet-era techniques."

She also chastised the administration for signing the EU membership application "unilaterally" rather than presenting a document signed by all parties as a "sign of total state consolidation and the first step toward a national consensus."

Meanwhile, she chastised the opposition for portraying Georgia as "having selected fear over dignity, as if we are not worthy of either entering the European Union or collaborating with NATO and the US."

Even worse, she says, is when the opposition asserts that "the government, and hence the country, has shifted its pro-Western trajectory." She called such a claim an insult to the country and its people.

President Zourabichvili urged unity, claiming that the EU membership bid and the Russian invasion of Ukraine "require us to act together."

Her recent trip to Brussels convinced her that there is a "real and practical opportunity to join the EU, as well as a genuine willingness on the side of our allies," she stated.

She emphasised that everyone involved - the president, prime minister, government, parliament, civil society, and ordinary citizens – "must all unify and act behind one strategy and one purpose, (to) work on a package of changes that must be executed if we are to take Europe's future seriously."

"There are no divisions, and we work independently from our partners!" President Zourabichvili stated, "It is vital to draught and present a united, agreed-upon strategy, which will not be subject to cancellation subsequently." She was referring to Georgia's departure from the EU-brokered April 19 Agreement.

She also recommended creating a state ministry for EU integration and maybe appointing an opposition leader to the role. According to the President, this committee would supervise the completion of EU membership conditions.

She highlighted that the country's attitude to Ukraine must be "principled, yet careful, not inviting conflict nor [performing] the ambiguous strategy of conceding in advance and being too cautious," she said.

President Zourabichvili emphasised in her speech that Georgia and Ukraine both have a history of fighting Russia.

"Liberation from the Russian Empire, independence, conquest by Soviet Russia – with its upheavals, repressions, and Holodomor, restoration of freedom, Russian-provoked separatist disputes, war, and occupation again," she said.

"Despite all of this, no one and nothing can compel us to reject freedom and independence," she said, adding that "no one and nothing can force us to abandon the historical European route we have chosen."

Garibashvili Discusses the Government’s Refusal to Allow the President's to Visit Europe

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili stated that the government had denied President Salome Zourabichvili official travel to Europe because "the President, the Commander-in-Chief, should have been and should be in the nation" amid Russia's conflict against Ukraine.

"This was our fundamental rationale and motivation for the refusal," the PM told reporters, adding that "every member of the government" agreed with him.

He further said that the Georgian Constitution requires the President to obtain permission from the government, which is in charge of implementing the country's foreign policy, before making any official travels.

"I'd like to believe she was caught up in this ambiguity," he continued. "I'm hoping that everything will be cleared up soon and that these questions will be answered."

PM Garibashvili made the comments after the ruling Georgian Dream party declared that the government would fight President Salome Zourabichvili in the Constitutional Court regarding her competence.

According to the Georgian Dream, the President has overstepped her authority and conducted foreign policy without consulting the Georgian government.

The GD contended in the statement that the President's duty as Georgia's Commander-in-Chief was purely "ceremonial."