Meeting of the Speaker of the Parliament with the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia

The President of the Hellenic Parliament, Mr. Konstantinos Tassoulas, met with the President of the Georgian Parliament, Mr. Kakha Kuchava, on the occasion of the Conference of the Presidents of Parliament of the Council of Europe member states which begins tomorrow in Athens.

After the meeting, the President of the Greek Parliament stated:

On the occasion of the European Conference of Speakers of Parliament, I welcome here, in Athens, the Honorable Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, a friendly country with which Greece is bound by historical ties, but also by ties strengthened by the presence of Greeks in Georgia and Georgians in Greece.

Our country, Greece, supports Georgia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations. And your friendly country is taking very good and methodical steps towards its European course. Steps which, in a few years from now, I am sure will be judged favorable and we will have a further positive evolution.
Mr President is a promising young politician who has recently headed the Environment Committee of the Georgian Parliament.

His expertise, as far as I know, plays a crucial role in realizing the ambitions of this Conference, which is to promote environmental protection as a basic human right - because we are Council of Europe countries - but also to push our governments, many of which - such as the Greek- have already put forward programs and applications to deal no longer with climate change, but with the climate crisis.

Meeting the Presidents of the Parliaments of the Council of Europe countries in bilateral meetings, I already feel more optimistic, because I see new politicians in modern democracies, new politicians who are European, young politicians who embrace the vision of environmental protection, not as a public relations exercise, but as a basic survival exercise of both the planet and our peoples. With such a generation and such a quality of leaders in the countries of the Council of Europe, I am sure that the difficult problems and the great challenges that we have - and which we will discuss tomorrow and the day after tomorrow - will be welcomed. I welcome the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia and wish him all the best for his country, his parliament and his political aspirations. "

The Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia in turn stated:

"Thank you for this warm welcome. It is also for me a pleasure to be in Greece, the cradle of western civilization and the cradle of democracy, a place with an exceptional ancient history and a great cultural tradition.
One of the most important topics of this conference and the topic on which I will give a speech, is the environment. We must all work hard to protect the environment, life and health of future generations.
I feel I am visiting friends who support the territorial integrity of my country, Georgia, and its accession to the European Union and NATO.
Our relations are based on the Greek Diaspora in Georgia and the Georgian Diaspora in Greece. Georgia is living in very interesting times nowadays and its people have made the historic choice and decided to turn to the European Union and we will work very hard in this direction in the coming years. In other words, very brave reforms and ambitious steps will be needed, so that we can, by 2024, be ready to submit our application for membership in the European Union.
Of course, for these reasons, cooperation between parliaments is needed. Parliamentary cooperation is very important and we definitely need your support and help, to be sure that we will take the right steps in this direction so as to be ready in 2024.

This conference for which we are here is very important, because we will discuss important issues over the next two days, which concern us all. It is well organized and that is why I am sure we will have the best possible results.
Thank you very much for the hospitality and we will be glad to see you in Georgia as well ".