President: Today it is not time for populism and false promises, early lifting of restrictions could lead to bigger threats

Today it is not time for populism and false promises. It will be difficult for all countries to get out of the crisis, - President Salome Zourabichvili said at the special plenary session of the Parliament.

As Zourabichvili noted, it is necessary to maintain a state of emergency in order to reduce the severity of the socio-economic crisis and alleviate its consequences for our population.

"It is necessary to extend the state of emergency in order to manage the situation. We need to be unanimous around this decision as we were a month ago, so that the public could fully realize how important it is to manage the second stage just as successfully as we did it during the first stage. There can be no different opinion on the continuation of the state of emergency today.

We all need to trust health experts and doctors and be guided by international recommendations and practices. Some people demand anti-crisis plans right now and we all agree that we need a plan. However, this very legitimate demand should not be a reason to oppose the continuation of the state of emergency. Today it is not time for populism and false promises. It will be difficult for all countries to get out of the crisis,” the President said.

According to her, the government will present an anti-crisis plan in the coming days.

“We are expecting the government to present this plan in the coming days and I expect it to meet the needs of all citizens and businesses that need urgent assistance from the state. We must all be ready for solidarity. It is necessary to maintain a state of emergency today in order to reduce the severity of the socio-economic crisis and alleviate its effects on our population. Early lifting of restrictions could lead to bigger threats, in particular, a secondary explosion, which would require even stricter measures. We have no right to make such mistakes,” Zourabichvili said.