Who is Salome Zurabishvili, the French-Georgian president who supports the protesters in her country?

In Georgia, the president does not have much power. If not the veto, then Salome Zurabishvili She promised to use it against a bill that would anger pro-Europeans, of which she is a part. The text is inspired by a Russian law that requires any media outlet or NGO to register as a “foreign agent”, if 20% of their resources come from abroad.

After several days of demonstrations and repression, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s party finally withdrew the text on Thursday 9 March. But I am not sure that this is enough to silence the discontent against this regime that is accused of being a tool of the Kremlin.

French from Georgia

But the intruder of the story is, then, this chief, Salome Zurabishvili, which is not in phase with the prime minister. All the more intrusive is that she was born French in Paris in 1952 (today she is 70 years old). His grandparents and his father had fled Georgia at the time of the Soviet invasion in 1921. The family, very influential in the Georgian diaspora, consisting of intellectuals, economists and politicians, is very close to power in exile in Paris and Leuville-sur-Orge, inEason. His cousin, Helen Carrer de Encos, is called the Academician. Salome Zurabishvili She is therefore also the cousin of her children: the writer Emmanuel Carrere, and the journalist and physician Marina Carrere de Encos.

French as it is, Salome Zurabishvili She is also high on Georgian culture. She goes to the French school but to the Georgian church, where she sings in the choir. At Sciences Po, in Paris, she completed the entire course on the Soviet world, with her cousin as tutor. She graduated in 1972. A year later in the United States, at Columbia University, she entered the Quai d’Orsay as a diplomat. Her career takes her from Rome to New York, from N’Djamena to Chad, to NATO… Today, she speaks six languages: French, English, Italian, German, Russian and, of course, Georgian.

Powered by Rose Revolution

And if she finds herself doing politics in Georgia, it’s simply thanks to a loan from France. In 2003, Jacques Chirac sent her as ambassador to Tbilisi, and this coincided with the so-called Rose Revolution, which led to the resignation of the president. Eduard Shevardnadze Accused of corruption, take power Mikhail Saakashvili which is very close to it.

“The French ambassador was in Georgia when there was the Rose Revolution, and the president at the time asked French President Jacques Chirac if he could ‘borrow’ his ambassador.” He remembers his daughter, Ketevan Georgiastani . “So my mother became foreign minister, then stayed in politics, and the end of it all was that she became president. So she had to give up her French citizenship.”Says the journalist from France 24 about Europe 1. She no longer holds dual citizenship, but is still very French, especially through her children. His son, Teimuraz Georgestani, also a diplomat, was an advisor to Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee until a few months ago.

As Secretary of State, we will remember that it was she who negotiated the withdrawal of Russian military bases from Georgia. She was elected deputy in 2016, and finally president in 2018. Today, her goal is to join the European Union: that’s why she and the ruling party, Georgian Dream, were elected.

support from the protesters

With the bill challenged and withdrawn Thursday, March 9, the prime minister is betraying his constituents and seeking to spoil the chances of membership, the president believes: “As you know, Georgia was not given candidate status at the same time as Ukraine and Moldova a few months ago. But this year the second chance,” he said. Salome Zurabishvili recalled in France 24. “ And at that moment, beyond reasoning, the government and parliament proposed a law directly inspired by a Russian law. It is clearly evidence that we are facing Europe, that we are moving away from Europe at a time when we are required to show that we are approaching it.

Therefore, the Georgian president supports the demonstrations in the country, which are likely to continue. The Ukrainian neighbor, Volodymyr Zelensky, also gave them his support.