The era in which Europe could rely on America to wage war, make peace, and establish democracy in its own backyard is over. With European Union enlargement, and as the recent Russian gas crisis demonstrated, that backyard now includes not just Ukraine, but Georgia as well. Indeed, as in Ukraine, Georgia is undergoing a test of democracy that Europe cannot afford to ignore. Georgia was the first post-Soviet country to stage a "color revolution," and thus to demonstrate, with dignity and maturity, its people's choice for democracy and European values. The European Union flags that have flown on all Georgian public buildings since then signal a natural attachment, as old as the history of a country that, for the ancient Greeks, was an integral part of the world as it was then known. Prometheus, Medea, the Amazons and, in neighboring Armenia, Noah's Ark - the Europe of our myths starts here. With its history, culture, and traditions - including its critical, independent, and even rebellious spirit within the former Soviet Union - Georgia would seem to be an ideal candidate for successful democratization. So it is all the more worrisome that democratization there is foundering. Everything seemed to have started well enough. Political reforms, privatization, anti-corruption measures, a search for new leaders untainted by compromise with the former regime, and implementation of a pro-European foreign policy met no resistance. But the totalitarian mindset has since resurfaced in leaders who, with their claim to represent the will of the majority, appropriate more and more power. Like the ancient Greeks' Hydra, Georgia's political elite never ceases to die and be reborn. The same people and governing methods that the "Rose Revolution" of November 2003 sought to defeat have reemerged at the center of power by using their personal networks, which extend outside Georgia's borders, as well as their tremendous wealth and finely honed skills at political scheming and manipulation. This bears little in common with the essence of democracy, which consists not merely in ballot boxes, but in the separation of powers. The government meddles in the affairs of the parliament, which in turn seeks to micro-manage the government - including, in my case, the nomination of ambassadors and their daily routines! Finally, and more seriously, the judiciary is not yet independent, undermining the rule of law and thus deterring badly needed private investment. Georgia's democracy exists in its head, but not yet in its body: citizens still spurn politics as a dirty pursuit, abandoning the ground to those who should have been retired long ago. But the hope of democracy remains strongly rooted in Georgia's people, civic organizations, and media. Now is the time for Europe to ensure that this hope is not extinguished. The US has already done as much as it can to support political stability in Georgia since independence. To be sure, stability was not always identified with democracy during the rule of Eduard Shevardnadze, the former Soviet Union foreign minister who was ousted as our president by the Rose Revolution. But Americans invested generously in the survival of democratic ideas and leaders. Although the foundation backed by the financier George Soros did not fabricate the Rose Revolution, as Russian nationalists claim, it certainly nurtured, encouraged, and supported democracy's preconditions. But, to help consolidate its democracy, Georgia now requires support of a different nature, which Europe is better equipped to offer. The models for the balance of powers, the functioning of the judiciary, and local democracy must be inspired by European forms, which are closer to Georgian reality than Anglo-Saxon models of the American type. Europe's rejection of this challenge would betray its fundamental duties in a place - small, Mediterranean, flexible, with old historical traditions - where democracy stands a much greater chance of success than in Ukraine, which is both huge and still very Soviet-minded, not to mention Central Asia. Indeed, refusal to support Georgia's struggling democracy would most likely postpone democratic progress in Ukraine, Belarus, even in Russia itself. This clearly raises the stakes. Russia, while never renouncing its imperial dreams and instruments of domination, was nonetheless coming to terms with the inevitability of democracy, at least on its margins. But this hesitant acceptance of a certain normality in its relations with its neighbors has always been vulnerable to a sudden eruption of Russia's famously irrational "derzhava" - an aggressive ethos that glorifies the state and asserts its strength by pouncing on weakness. This is the key to understanding the recent Russian gas crisis. Just as surely, any sign of a retreat from democracy in Georgia and other post-Soviet states will merely fuel Russia's neo-imperial ambitions. It is Europe's responsibility to convince Russia that there is no hope of a return to the past. Europe must assume this role not only to ensure the future independence of its energy supply, but also to demonstrate that European values of freedom, democracy, and justice between peoples have real force. To succeed, Europe must equip itself with the necessary instruments: a large semi-public foundation to promote Europe and support political reform, a university to train future executives of nascent democracies, a police force, and an army of judges and magistrates to breathe life into the models that we want to emulate. Above all, Europe needs conviction. If Europe today cannot convince itself that it has a vital interest in its neighbors' future, who will believe in Europe tomorrow? Salom� Zourabichvili is a former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, and the leader of one of Georgia's opposition parties. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2006. www.project-syndicate.org

Salom� Zourabichvili