First of all, it’s an amazing thrill to host all of you at this wonderful palace.
Europe week was a brilliant invention. Every year it grows, it gets better and becomes more interesting, and Europe is what we are all about.
When we first came to power it was the beginning of 2001 and I was the Minister of Justice. There was this strange flag and everyone was passing by wondering what this was, a new embassy or what.
The first thing we did when we came to power was to raise this flag, and to play the European anthem for a bunch of Georgian kids, raising this flag in front of the Georgian Parliament, the old building of the Georgian Parliament, because as you know, we have a new one. Everyone, especially the current European ministers and heads of states, were a little bit confused, some of them scandalized.
They thought we are just showing off. What the hell it is this all about in this impoverished, desperate country raising this flag, because the usual phrase about Georgia in European newspapers up until 2008-2009, I remember it well, was,– “Georgia a tiny, impoverished, corruption-ridden, ex-soviet republic”.
That was Georgia’s cliché, like a calling card “a tiny, impoverished, corruption-ridden ex-soviet republic”, so what’s with the European flag and what… I mean, are you kidding guys? Because at that time we had a 53% poverty rate. So since then here we are, we are really moving forward on this path of integration in the European Union, at a faster pace than anyone would have ever imagined. In a few days time they will announce a road map for visa free travel for visa liberalization with the European Union. But I have to mention that in terms of border controls we are one of the most advanced countries in Europe based on European Union surveys, we are the first country in Europe that has electronic gates. These make it possible to enter if you have an electronic chip on your passport without seeing any border guards. Even the border guards are very nice and pleasant, you will go through and they will just scan you. So we will have visa free travel, we are working on DCFTA. DCFTA means that by the end of next year we will have basically something much bigger than Turkey had as a customs union, as a result of which Turkey has evolved very dramatically, and I think Georgia is getting a much better chance.
We will have an association agreement with the United Union and we will have all of the other necessary steps to later start accession talks. And for the first time, I am beginning to hear that Georgia should become a member of European Union. I heard it from former President Sarkozy last year. But we are hearing this more and more from European leaders in recent months and we are getting used to it ourselves. Generations for centuries all dreamed of this for Georgia. Recently, I’ve been reading through letters written by Georgian kings to the Pope in Rome saying, well we are here, a nice country, we like Europe, please take care of us or pay attention