Is Georgia turning its back on Europe?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 6 June 2024
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On the 28th of May, in a small country on the easternmost reaches of Europe, a new law came into effect.
For the vast majority of people around the world, this new ruling, in a nation of fewer than 4 million inhabitants, went largely unnoticed.
However, for many of the citizens of Georgia it marked a setback, throwing off course the country’s prospects of joining the European Union and aligning it more closely with Moscow.
This week on The Inquiry we’re asking, ‘Is Georgia turning its back on Europe?’
Contributors:
Megi Kartsivadze, DPhil student, Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, University of Oxford, and an invited lecturer at the University of Tbilisi, Georgia
Professor Stephen Jones, Director of the Program on Georgian Studies at the Davis Center at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Dr. Lia Tsuladze, Executive Director of the Center for Social Sciences and an Associate Professor of Sociology at Tbilisi State University, Georgia
Maia Nikoladze, Assistant Director in the GeoEconomics Center, Atlantic Council, Washington DC
Production team:
Presenter: Tanya Beckett Producer: Lorna Reader Technical Producer: Craig Boardman Researcher: Matt Toulson Production Coordinators: Ellie Dover & Tim Fernley Editor: Tara McDermott
Image Credit: David Mdzinarishvili/Epa-Efe/Rex/Shutterstock
Transcript
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| 0:29.1 | Sounds? |
| 0:30.1 | Welcome to the inquiry with me Tanya Beckett on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:35.0 | One question, four expert witnesses and an answer. |
| 0:40.0 | On the 28th of May in a small answer. |
| 0:43.0 | On the 28th of May in a small country on the easternmost reaches of Europe, |
| 0:48.0 | a new law came into effect. |
| 0:50.0 | For the vast majority of people around the world, this new ruling in a nation of fewer than 4 million inhabitants went largely unnoticed. |
| 1:00.0 | But for the majority of the citizens of Georgia, it marked a deeply painful setback, |
| 1:06.0 | throwing off course the country's prospects of joining the European Union |
| 1:10.0 | and aligning it more closely with Moscow. |
| 1:13.0 | So this week on the inquiry we're asking, |
| 1:16.3 | is Georgia turning its back on Europe? |
| 1:19.9 | Part 1, the Foreign Influence Law. |
... |
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