Ruling party MP: Georgia has made “significant progress” on EU path

Georgia has made “significant progress” on its path to European Union membership over the recent years, Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairman of ruling Georgian Dream party, said on Tuesday at the Parliament.

Kobakhidze noted “all tangible achievements” in the EU integration process were “connected” with the Georgian Dream Government, naming the 2014-signed Association Agreement and free trade deal with the EU, as well as the 2017-reached visa-free travel with the Union.

The Georgian official also emphasised Georgia had “already fulfilled” 45 percent of its obligations under the Association Agreement, calling it “an unprecedented result” above that achieved by Ukraine and Moldova - the other two states that have submitted EU membership applications. Kobakhidze said the figure  was also a “merit of our Government”.

"Recently, including in the last month, everything has been done to have a dialogue with European Union representatives in order for our [membership] application to be successful. These are the steps we have taken to succeed," the ruling party official said. 

He also noted the April 19, 2021 EU-mediated agreement - which resolved a six-month political crisis in the country following the 2020 parliamentary elections and proposed large-scale electoral and judiciary reforms - had “nothing to do” with obtaining EU membership candidate status for the country.

"This was a political agreement signed between the [Georgian] political parties and not with the European Union. There were specific political compromises and you know that the United National Movement [opposition party] did not sign this document for 100 days, after which it was annulled. This document was in fact annulled by the National Movement,” Kobakhidze said.