European Commission Official Meets TSU Students

Christian Danielsson, Director General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations at the European Commission, met students of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University on February 1 to discuss the perspectives and challenges of Georgia’s EU integration, as well as the ongoing processes in the European Union. Rector of TSU, Giorgi Sharvashidze; EU Ambassador to Georgia, Janos Herman; Director of the Institute for European Studies, Nino Lapiashvili; Academician, Professor Levan Aleksidze attended the event, which was hosted by the Institute for European Studies. 

Rector Giorgi Sharvashidze said that “a very important meeting was held at the Tbilisi State University. Director General Christian Danielsson spoke about European Enlargement and Georgia’s perspectives in this regard. Students asked him a lot of interesting questions. The university dedicates an entire cycle to the European Union – students meet representatives of the legislative and executive authorities and hold very interesting discussions. I think that the university is the place, where a very vivid, professional and intellectual discussion of this and many other issues should be held. 

Christian Danielsson described his two-day visit to Georgia as “very useful,” saying that he met a very interesting audience at the Tbilisi State University. 

“It is obvious that the government plans to implement very ambitious reforms in the spheres, which are important for Georgia’s economic development. I am glad to support Georgia’s attempts in respect of EU integration. Visa liberalisation is a lengthy process. On behalf of the European Commission, I can state that Georgia has met all the benchmarks under the Visa Liberalisation Action Plan. Now it is up to the European Parliament,” the European Commission official said. 

Christian Danielsson delivered a public lecture “EU-Georgia relations: current challenges and opportunities in the new global context.” The lecture was followed by Q&A with the audience. 

“The public lecture was extremely important and interesting for me, as a PhD student of the Institute for European Studies, which was established with the support of the European Union. The relations between Georgia and the European Union, as well as the future of Georgia and the European Union were discussed. What is most important, we received information from those persons, who are directly involved in these processes that is very important for us, the researchers,” Tamta Sarishvili, PhD student of the Institute for European Studies, said. 

In frames of their visit to Georgia, the EU representatives held talks with Georgian officials from the legislative and executive authorities.