''Explicit refusal to accept the EU loan is hard to understand for me and a large section of the public,'' Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili said at the Orbeliani Palace briefing.
The president stressed that holding exemplary elections without hate speech, insults, and violence in a democratic and competitive atmosphere is crucial. According to Zurabishvili, the EU's declined interest in Georgia plays into the hands of internal and external enemies trying to destabilize the country.
In view of this fact, the president defined the ruling party's stark denial of receiving assistance from the EU as hard to grasp.
''The economic argument according to which Georgia faces the need to reduce its loan is weak. Notwithstanding our economic growth, even if it is a two-digit number, it cannot overshadow the damage which COVID inflicted upon Georgia. The loan in the amount of EUR 75 million, which is GEL 300 million, would have reduced the sustained damage,'' Mrs. Zurabishvili declared.
