“We do not speak, as a government, about the possibility of changing the course. We have it written in the Constitution – this was done by our government – that European integration is our constitutional task,” – this is what Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze stated in relation to the televised debate whose topic is Georgia’s European integration.

According to Irakli Kobakhidze, “they deceive people by saying that if we become a member of the European Union, tomorrow we will wake up in Brussels or Berlin.”

“At the same time, pluses and minuses can be discussed on all topics, especially against the background of the false campaigns that are being conducted. For example, society is being convinced – just as one lie was that Eka Gigauri would submit a declaration once a year and tomorrow we would wake up in Chelyabinsk – they also deceive people by saying that if we become a member of the European Union, tomorrow we will wake up in Brussels or Berlin. This is also an ordinary lie,” – stated Kobakhidze.

According to him, Georgia’s economy has grown more than in countries that joined the European Union.

“They spread clips claiming, for example, that after Estonia conditionally became a member of the European Union, its economy grew 2 times, and so on. Estonia joined the European Union in 2003, if I’m not mistaken. If you compare the economic growth of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and so on, and take Georgia’s economic growth from that moment until today, Georgia’s economy has grown more than in the countries that joined the European Union. Such things cannot be used for manipulation and to provoke excessive emotions in society. The subject of the debate is not to revisit what is written in the Constitution. That is not the goal. For example, these debates will give people the opportunity to say that the widespread information, conditionally related to the economy, is complete falsehood, and through this they try to provoke excessive emotions in people in order to then direct those excessive emotions against their own country. Therefore, so that excessive expectations are not created, society must clearly understand what results European integration brings, for example, from an economic point of view, what pluses and minuses it has. Discussion on this matter is, of course, absolutely expedient,” – stated Kobakhidze.