EU Envoy Meets Opposition Leaders
Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 4 Jun.'09 / 13:04

Peter Semneby, EU’s special representatives for South Caucasus, met with three opposition leaders on June 4 – Irakli Alasania, leader of Alliance for Georgia; Davit Usupashvili, leader of Republican Party, part of the Alliance for Georgia and Salome Zourabichvili, leader of Georgia’s Way.

“Unfortunately, in recent days there were no signs coming from the authorities indicating on their readiness for talks. We reiterated that we are ready [for talks] and we asked the EU special envoy to actively engage and push this issue during his talks with the authorities,” Irakli Alasania told journalists after the meeting.

“Time is pressing… and more time we waste, the deeper the crisis will become. We also acknowledge that the opposition cannot independently resolve this crisis out, like it is impossible for the authorities to resolve the crisis through this tactic of ignorance. So, we are expecting more active and responsive steps from the authorities,” he added.

“We informed him [EU’s special envoy] on the alarming situation which exists in the country,” Davit Usupashvili told journalists. “The situation is alarming because the authorities have in fact refused to perform their functions, not only policing functions, but also legislative functions and we told [EU envoy] that it is the opposition’s common concern.”

“We told him that we are extremely concerned about the irresponsible statements of the Georgian ambassador in the UN, when he put the country even in the graver situation owing to those statements, which he was accustomed to make here, in Georgia while speaking with his political opponents,” Usupashvili said and added that EU should engage in the process more actively to help resolve the crisis in Georgia.

Salome Zourabichvili said after meeting that the EU should “wake up” the Georgian authorities. “The country is in a very serious crisis in the country, which becomes more and more serious from day to day. We have a responsibility to help this country out of the crisis. We are fighting for it from the very beginning. I will be involved in all the possible negotiations, which will be directed towards moving the country out of this crisis and towards holding of free elections, which will finally settle the crisis in this country,” she said.

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