Seeking rapid eu membership. But could regional instability and outside meddling thwart his ambition . President jakov milatovic, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you for having me. Its a great pleasure to have you. You have made it quite clear your overriding political ambition and aim is to get montenegro into the eu within the next five years. But its not going well, is it . Exactly. I think that that is why i have entered montenegrin politics a few years ago, to bring the country to the eu, and this is what i am doing on a daily basis, pushing for it. I think that all the good things are not easy. And in that way, we are trying our best. But pushing for it is one thing, promising your people that within a term a five year term you can deliver it is quite another. And surely you have made a promise that you cant keep. No, thats not really true. I think that we can keep the promise and i think that having montenegro into the eu within the next five years is a very realistic thing to do. I
But its not going well, is it . Exactly. I think that that is why i have entered montenegrin politics a few years ago, to bring the country to the eu, and this is what i am doing on a daily basis, pushing for it. I think that all the good things are not easy. And in that way, we are trying our best. But pushing for it is one thing, promising your people that within a term a five year term you can deliver it is quite another. And surely you have made a promise that you cant keep. No, thats not really true. I think that we can keep the promise and i think that having montenegro into the eu within the next five years is a very realistic thing to do. I think that montenegro has been negotiating with the eu for the last ten years. We have been, out of all the candidate countries, the frontrunner. Montenegro is the only country without any big problems with their neighbours in the western balkans, which is a rare thing in our region. As i understand it, right now, montenegro is negotiating a
But its not going well, is it . Exactly. I think that that is why i have entered montenegrin politics a few years ago, to bring the country to the eu, and this is what i am doing on a daily basis, pushing for it. I think that all the good things are not easy. And in that way, we are trying our best. But pushing for it is one thing, promising your people that within a term a five year term you can deliver it is quite another. And surely you have made a promise that you cant keep. No, thats not really true. I think that we can keep the promise and i think that having montenegro into the eu within the next five years is a very realistic thing to do. I think that montenegro has been negotiating with the eu for the last ten years. We have been, out of all the candidate countries, the frontrunner. Montenegro is the only country without any big problems with their neighbours in the western balkans, which is a rare thing in our region. As i understand it, right now, montenegro is negotiating a
Sexual harassment and discrimination at the fdic and the bullying of lower level employees coming up. The tough questions that the chair of the fdic face today on capitol hill, plus and attempted assassination of slovakias Prime Minister shot multiple times earlier today, the sheer panic in the streets as this attack went down and leading this hour a moment of truth that needs to play out tomorrow in the new york hush money cover up case against former President Trump the criminal conviction or acquittal of a former president could really come down to this question. Does the jury believe donald trump, a defendant, or Michael Cohen, the key witness tomorrow . Jurors are going to continue to hear testimony from Michael Cohen, the key witness in this case. It was once a selfdescribed quote designated thug, unquote for donald trump. Cohen will resume intense crossexamination as the defense argues, that cohen can simply not be trusted just to give you a sense of how the defense set the tone
time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. not so long ago, western powers viewed georgia as a trailblazer for political and economic freedom in the troubled caucasus region. there was talk of the possibility of eventual eu membership or maybe nato. now, well, the talk is of darker trends authoritarianism, repression of opposition and nagging questions about russia s influence. my guest is georgia s president, salome zourabichvili. does georgia currently have more in common with belarus than belgium? president salome zourabichvili in tbilisi. thank you for having me on hardtalk. it is a great pleasure having you on the show. let me ask you a question about your own past. not so long ago, you were the french ambassador in tbilisi, representing france. in that position, what do you think you would have made of the politics of georgia today? first of all, it was 15 years ago that i was the french ambassador to georgia, after having been a daughter of a georgia