Georgian president calls on members of European Parliament to grant Georgia EU candidate status

TBILISI. May 31 (Interfax) - Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Wednesday addressed members of the European Parliament to state that for Georgia, there is no alternative to becoming a member of the European family.

"I want to see Georgia get past domestic and international challenges and firmly embark on the path to full-fledged European integration. And for that, there is only one road: to secure Georgia be granted by year-end the status of candidate to the European Union," Zourabichvili said.

One of the main obstacles as regards Georgian internal affairs is polarization of political forces and society, she said.

For a small country like Georgia, "polarization serves only the enemy and is something that we should comprehend better," she said.

In her speech, the Georgian president did not bypass the subject of Russia.

"Russia needs to understand that Georgia is Europe. Renewed flights, lifting visas [...] all designed to create domestic tensions, confusion, escalation," she said.

She said again that the country ought to introduce visas for Russian nationals, noting, however, that Georgians show traditional tolerance toward those Russians who arrived recently.

Zourabichvili called on the Georgian government to fully heed the twelve recommendations in order to obtain EU candidate status.