Salome Zurabishvili says will act as ''guarantor'' of the pro-European front in elections

President Salome Zurabishvili spoke to CNN’s Christian Amanpour and said she would be “leading the pro-European front” of the opposition parties and civil society in upcoming elections. She clarified that she does not intend to run for a seat but will “act as a guarantor” for this pro-Western and pro-European front.

The president’s statement follows announcements by several parties that they wish to create a “European Platform of National Resistance.”

Speaking to CNN, President Zurabishvili said that several laws, including the “foreign agent law” that she called “the Russian law”, but also other drafts, like the one related to the repatriation of offshore assets, or the one putting the pension fund under the control of the ruling party, are “taking Georgia away from the EU path.”

President Zurabishvili said she was aware that her veto on these drafts would be symbolic since the ruling party has a “monolithic” majority in the Parliament, but argued, “We have to use the mobilization of society and consolidation of the political parties to go and win the elections because that’s the European way. The overwhelming majority that wants Europe would be there on the day of elections.”

While condemning the “Russian way” in which the government tries to subdue protests “through violence and intimidation,” she complimented the “mature” civil society for spearheading the protests and youth for their patriotic, peaceful, and orderly conduct.

Zurabishvili conceded the question that Russia is unhappy about Georgia’s rapprochement with the EU, especially if the membership is within grasp, but added, “Not everything happens the way that Russia likes it.”