Sovereignty is the only solid foundation on which Europe`s future must be built. The Foreign Minister of Georgia said this, while addressing a panel on sovereignty and migration hosted by the Hungarian Parliament.

"I represent the country, as you mentioned, which is not a member of the EU yet, which is aspiring to be part of the EU, and for a long time, I would say, which is aspiring to be part of the European family for centuries and for decades to be part of the EU. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, we are looking at European structures and the EU as the best safeguard for our sovereignty.

That`s how we see and that`s how we want to see the EU. That`s why we applied for EU membership, that`s why we signed the Association Agreement back in 2014 with the EU. Georgia is the country which shares the European values which is very organic for Georgia. But since we applied for EU membership in 2022, we also had a moment when we had to fight for our sovereignty, because this was existential. When it comes to security, this is existential to follow the sovereign decisions to safeguard peace and security in our country, and economic growth.

Georgia is a country which had 9.5% economic growth per year at the moment, this is an impressive rate by European standards… This growth is the result of a clear priority - safeguarding sovereignty… The country must not compromise peace amid a highly complex geopolitical environment.

You all remember that 20% of Georgia still remains under Russian occupation, and that creates existential threats to Georgia. And for Georgia, it is especially important to be very careful and be very cautious when it comes to this or that decision.

Unfortunately, after applying for EU membership, we have seen that this very important topic - which is crucial for Georgia and for around 90% of Georgians who support the European idea - has been turned into a tool for pressure and political games, and for foreign influence and interference into domestic affairs, which should be not acceptable for anybody, and we see increasingly that this is not the issue only outside of the EU, but inside the EU and inside the EU member states, that it is kind of a common thing.

We need to look at what kind of Europe we want to live in. I do believe that I belong to this part of the world, and I do share the concerns that you all have about the EU and the European future, because I do believe that there is no European future without all the countries united and sharing that very core of the unity that`s created decades or maybe centuries ago.

And it is important to look at the sovereignty issue very seriously, because still this is the only solution for the future of Europe to safeguard sovereign decisions and sovereignty of the countries and build on that", - said Maka Botchorishvili.