EU High Representative Borell calls Georgia's European Union membership “an important issue”
Borell also highlighted the ongoing visit of Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili to Brussels, noting he would discuss with the Georgian official the current situation with the “same messages for Georgia that EU always has”. Photo: European Union
Tweet 
Share
Georgia's membership in the European Union is “an important issue,” Josep Borrell, the EU High Representative, said on Tuesday, ahead of a meeting of EU defence ministers in Brussels.
"We [the European Union] are talking to Georgia about candidate status, but that [granting candidate status] is not my competence," the EU official added, emphasising the European Commission was in the process of preparing its opinion based on the membership questionnaire handed in by the Georgian Government.
Borell also highlighted the ongoing visit of Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili to Brussels, noting he would discuss with the Georgian official the current situation with the “same messages for Georgia that EU always has”.
“We will help Georgia as much as we can. We know that Georgia and Moldova are under threat from Russia and we are ready to help these countries, as well as Ukraine. Fortunately, there is no war in Georgia and Moldova”, Borrell noted.
Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday said the country’s prospects for European Union candidate status and “tangible mechanisms” for deepening its EU integration would be discussed within the framework of meetings during his two-day visit to Brussels starting today.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili is set to hold high-level bilateral meetings at the European Council, the European Commission, the European Parliament and NATO as part of his visit to Belgium, the Government Administration said on Tuesday.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Monday said the visit of Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili to Brussels this week was “of special importance,” pointing to meetings with European Union leaders on the schedule of the Government head.
Vice-President of European Commission and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell Fontelles stated at the press conference following the EU-Georgia Association Council earlier today that this meeting is being held in a ‘pivotal moment’ for Georgia amid the current political crisis.
Enrico Valvo, the Italian Ambassador to Georgia, on Tuesday said the European Union membership bid of the country should be evaluated on “historical data,” in an address at a meeting of the Georgian Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili met Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament, on Tuesday to discuss the process of the country’s membership in the European Union.
Maka Botchorishvili, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s European Union Integration Committee, on Tuesday said there were “forces among European Union member states” that were against a further enlargement of the bloc and therefore not in favour of Georgia’s membership prospects.
The European Union's view on the membership applications of Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia is a “very important step”, Josep Borrell, the EU High Representative, said on Monday ahead of a meeting of the bloc’s ministerial.