Baiba Braže: Joining the European Union is not only a political goal, it requires practical steps to adapt the country's legal, justice and other systems to European standards

Joining the European Union is not only a political goal, it requires practical steps to adapt the country's legal, justice and other systems to European standards, - the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Baiba Braže, said at the press conference held in Tbilisi together with European counterparts and the President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili.

"I'm glad to be here again. We are here as friends, as the closest friends of Georgia, and not to become part of your internal political process, I want to say that very clearly. Due to the fact that Georgia's European and NATO aspirations are recorded in the constitution, due to the fact that more than 80% of Georgians support joining the European Union, we, the Baltic States, have put financial, political and other types of capital on the table of the European Union and NATO in order to support these goals of Georgia. We have invested.

I would like to make it clear that this interest will remain and we see Georgia as part of Europe. Its European path is important for us, as well as for Ukraine, Albania and other European states. At the same time, we are very clear about the concerns that we have. Joining the European Union is not only a political goal, it requires practical steps to adapt the country's legal, justice and other systems to European standards. This is not meddling in domestic politics, these are European standards that we all have to meet in order to join the EU. So, this is not against Georgia. We all did it, and all candidate states are required to do it. In this regard, it is difficult to understand why the "Foreign influence transparency" had to be passed now. We have heard the message about the veto and we hope that this time it will be used for a complete review of what EU membership requires. So our message today is this. There are other bills we are concerned about, as well as the way demonstrators are treated. The right to peaceful assembly should be guaranteed by all governments.

So, this is the main goal of our visit, your friends, who are interested in the future of Georgia, but also, we want to clearly say that there are practical steps that should be taken", said Baiba Braže.