On March 24, the President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, evaluated the current processes in the country in an extensive interview with the Georgian channel “TV Pirveli." Zourabichvili devoted a large part of the interview to granting candidate status to Georgia and the necessary steps to be taken in this direction.

According to the president, the first rejection of the candidate status for Georgia "was felt a little unfair by the population." However, according to her, "it was understandable" because "we did not express the political will in some cases" and "no decisions were made by the authorities" to achieve this status. She also added that "if we look at the reality, after [the governing team] tore apart the so-called Charles Michel's agreement, the political will [on the part of the government] was less felt," and the decision in the EU was made accordingly.

"Now the situation is different. Despite everything, even some unjustified decisions of the government, or despite the rhetoric, today it is impermissible to deny a candidate status for the second time - strategically, geopolitically because we cannot be thrown into isolation," the president said, adding that “strategically, Georgia today is in a region that is very necessary for stability and not for any second front."

In the context of the candidate status, the president also emphasized the importance of the will expressed by the Georgian people and added that the society "has shown where it is, where it is going..." In addition, she argued that the second rejection of the candidate status would be a signal for Russia and that “it is impossible to give Russia the feeling that Georgia is no longer so closely connected with Europe and America.”

She also emphasized the necessity of political will on the part of the authorities to fulfill the 12 conditions issued by the European Union: “the government depends on its electorate, who elected this government not for today's rhetoric, but for the perspective of the European Union.”

"It was the government that promised [the people] that we will submit [an application for EU membership] in 2024, it was the government that wrote in the constitution that Euro-Atlantic integration is our main goal and all state institutions should work in this direction, and I believe that they were elected because of this and I because of my European orientation", said Zourabichvili and added that “the government and I are obliged to respond to our population and voters for the mandate given by them.”

To the journalist's question - "does the current government radiate such political will?" - the president answered with a "no." "We must force the government to be faithful to its promises. It is not possible for the government to move to a completely different space and show different rhetoric when it was elected for something completely different. The government, which no longer has the support of its voters, goes in a different direction and is forced to use other levers little by little," – argued the president.

"Our main duty is not to let the government run away. The government should stay on the path it has chosen before. These are elementary democratic principles. I will be a kind of watchman on this road," the president said, adding: “I am sure that people will be by my side when there are decisions to be made in different directions.”

Salome Zourabichvili also spoke about the role of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the "Georgian Dream." She said that his status is "incomprehensible" to Western partners. "Also, there is this question of where the main decisions are made... this feeling that where is the decision-making center and no one knows where it is and who these young people [members of the government] are, performers, voices, if they also make some decisions and [if Yes, then] why [make] some 'schizophrenic' statements.' “When the prime minister comes to Europe, he says what they want to hear, and when he comes here to the parliament, he talks about completely different topics.”

"When there is a question, it is in itself bad for the political system, which should be transparent in a democratic country. The public should know the answer, who is responsible for [the] rhetoric, which is damaging, and everyone tells us that," Zurabishvili explained, adding that Ivanishvili himself should clarify this. According to the president, she has not communicated with Ivanishvili for long, although she wishes to do so.