NEW SECURITY ARCHITECTURE IN EUROPE AND ITS IMPACT ON GEORGIA
Our aim is to support the dialogue and embolden discussion beyond the current state of war and technicalities of filling EU questionnaire by Georgia. We aspire to discuss and analyse aftermath of war in Ukraine, its impact on Georgia and its national security. In order to ensure broad public discussions of these issues that to a great extent will define the future of Georgia, we wish to bring together all the stakeholders: government, opposition, civic society and international community and bring various already existing discussion formats under one umbrella.
It is alarming that the Russian aggression in Ukraine principally disconnected our political elites. Severe political divide, coupled with massive Russian propaganda streams, confuses and antagonizes the public. And this happens at the time when we need unity as never before, as in the face of President Putin’s unimaginable cruelty in Ukraine, pressure and security risks are escalating against Georgia as well. We believe these are the times when even the most legitimate domestic political rivalries should be paused and put aside and demands of a vigorous national resilience policy should become a priority.
Russian war against Ukraine unified almost entire civilized world and opened the doors to completely new security narratives, new opportunities and vision for cooperation and integration. Georgia, itself a victim of Russian aggression, by default stands in the centre of those narratives and new regional or international arrangements.
While the entire EU questionnaire discourse is very significant, still, it is only one prove of those changing dynamics. With the launch of the series of discussions, we propose to explore, analyze and discuss the essence of European integration beyond formal procedures. We need to profoundly agree on the fundamental values and principles modern, European Georgian state should be built on. Similarly to 104 years ago, when founders of the first Georgian Republic surprised the world with the courage and faithfulness to the beliefs of liberal democracy, Georgian elites of today, need to find strength and devotion to principles of freedom, democracy, justice, solidarity, equality, human Rights and human Dignity.
After filling and sending all the paperwork to Brussels we need to ask ourselves why we aspire to EU membership and work hard and boundless on healing deep wounds and filling large gaps that exist between Georgia – perfect on paper and real-time Georgia.
The Conference is organized by the Civic IDEA, Democracy Research Institute (DRI), Democracy Index – Georgia.
