On 23 May at 18:00 at the Ball Room of the Tbilisi Marriott, Union “21st Century” presented a publication entitled ‘The Orthodox Church in the countries of the European Union’ drafted in the framework of the project funded by the European Union. State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration David Bakradze, EU Ambassador Janos Herman and Protopresbyter and Rector of the Tbilisi Spiritual Academy and Seminary Father Giorgi Zviadadze made the opening remarks.
The publication aims to inform the representatives of the Georgian Orthodox Church – an institution enjoying high trust in the society – of the factual information regarding the Orthodox Church in EU countries and their relations with the State. The book describes State-Church relations in the countries where the Orthodox population is in the majority (Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Romania) as well as the countries with a strong Orthodox community. The publication is intended to dispel the increasing narrative and stereotypes about lack of respect towards religion and traditions in the European Union.

The presentation was one of the activities which started last September with an aim to provide information to the eparchies of the Georgian Orthodox Church on the EU, its structures, current political and economic challenges, Georgia-EU relations and benefits of Georgia’s European integration. Together with the Office of the State Minister and the Information Centre on Nato and the EU, Union ”21st Century” has organised information meetings/open discussions on various subjects of interest to the Orthodox Church, including on the issues of Church-State relations and the Orthodox Church in the European Union.
Establishing active communication with the Georgian Orthodox Church and provision of direct information about Georgia’s EU integration process as well as holding open discussions with the representatives of the clergy is very important.