FRANCE PROPOSES CLOSER EU-GEORGIA TIES

PRESS TV
Nov 14 2008
Iran

French President Nicolas Sarkozy (L) Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili (R) France has assured Georgia of closer ties with the
EU as the presidents of the two countries meet on the eve of an
EU-Russia summit.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with his Georgian counterpart
Mikheil Saakashvili on Thursday at the summit venue in the southern
French city of Nice.

Sarkozy assured Saakashvili that he would be pressing for closer
Georgian links with the European Union, Reuters reported. He suggested
that Georgia and the EU develop a special partnership.

This is while officials of the French presidency said that the
timing of Sarkozy’s meeting with Saakashvili contained a political
signal. "Even if tomorrow there is an important summit between the EU
and Russia, that doesn’t mean that Europe has abandoned its positions
on Georgia, quite the contrary," said the official who spoke on
condition of anonymity.

On Monday the EU states had agreed to re-launch talks on a partnership
agreement with Moscow that had been frozen following Georgia’s August
7th military adventure into the breakaway province of South Ossetia
which was followed by a robust Russian response and brief occupation
of parts of Georgia.

"After the Georgian crisis this summer, the Europeans realized
that they needed to develop cooperation between the EU and European
countries that are not members like Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia,"
said an official at the French presidency.

France currently holds the rotating presidency of the 27-member
EU until the end of the 2008 and Sarkozy played a leading role in
diplomatic efforts to resolve the Georgian crisis.

Officials from Sarkozy’s office have said that the proposed EU-Georgia
partnership would be similar to the agreement that is being negotiated
between the EU and Ukraine.