European Parliament President: people in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia looking to Europe with hope
The head of the EU legislative body stressed the world had changed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Photo: Reuters
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Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament, on Friday said people in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the Western Balkans were looking to Europe "with hope" amid the Ukraine crisis.
With war in Europe, today, it is that spirit, that sense of purpose, of enthusiasm, of a clear direction, that I want our European project to re-capture. People in Ukraine, in Moldova and Georgia, and still in the Western Balkans, are now looking to Europe, with the same sense of belonging and hope,” Metsola said.
The head of the EU legislative body stressed the world had changed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
We must understand that the weight of the global democratic order now rests more heavily than ever before on Europe’s shoulders. And we must be able to carry it. It is our whatever-it-takes moment. A moment that comes once in a generation,” she noted.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday thanked state agencies and individuals who “spared no effort” in completing the second, more voluminous part of the country’s European Union membership questionnaire “in the shortest possible time”.
Maka Botchorishvili, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s European Union Integration Committee, said on Tuesday she expected the conclusion of the European Commission on Georgia’s EU membership bid would be “positive”.
Kelly Degnan, the United States Ambassador to Georgia, on Saturday said the country’s European Union membership was a process that needed to involve the entire society.
Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament, on Thursday said the lawmaking body welcomed the recently submitted formal European Union membership bids from Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Ilia Darchiashvili on Monday congratulated the country’s European “friends and partners” on Europe Day.
Georgian and European Union officials on Monday marked Europe Day, commemorating the historic 1950 Schuman declaration that laid out a vision for a peaceful postwar Europe and led to the formation of the EU.
Georgia's European integration choice is a decision of both the Government and citizens of the country and has “no alternative,” Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said at an event dedicated to celebrations of Europe Day on Monday.
Maka Botchorishvili, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s European Union Integration Committee, said during her visit to Germany on Thursday that German officials believed Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova faced the “same” prospects in their formal applications for joining the European Union, and said the three states should be granted integration opportunities simultaneously.
Georgia is a leader in European Union integration among countries of the Black Sea region in “many directions” and is even ahead of Balkan states that have membership candidate status, Maka Botchorishvili, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s European Union Integration Committee, said on Wednesday.
The European Union needs to “keep preparing the ground” for enlargement for the Western Balkan states as well as Georgia, Roberta Metsola, the president of the European parliament said at an informal meeting of the European Council in Prague on Friday.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola on Tuesday said the path Georgia was taking in its European Union integration should ultimately “lead the country” to the EU.