Eldor Shomurodov’s success making it into one of Europe’s most important national football leagues has generated a fresh flurry of ambition among young Uzbek players.
EU officials responded by saying that Tbilisi hadn’t fulfilled the conditions to get the loan. “You can't decline what you were not eligible for,” one said.
The only question Georgian journalists had for the prime minister, as he attempted to host a pro-European summit of post-Soviet states: When will you step down?
The country will get a billion more euros than Brussels originally promised. Yerevan is connecting the windfall to the successful conduct of last month’s elections.
Widely seen as one of the losers of the recent conflict, the EU could contribute to making the emerging regional order more viable – and rebuilding trust with the parties.