Parliament EU Integration Committee Chair: Georgia a leader among membership candidates

The MP also said the country was “successfully using” opportunities provided to it for the integration process, and had made a “strong choice” of joining the EU. She added the Georgia was “closer than ever” to “European standards”. Photo: Parliament of Georgia.

Agenda.ge, 25 May 2022 - 19:59, Tbilisi,Georgia

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.

Speaking in a debate format at the legislative body, Botchorishvili said Georgia had been given a “historic chance” with the EU membership application to “get where the Georgian people have aspired to be since the day of independence”.

The MP also said the country was “successfully using” opportunities provided to it for the integration process, and had made a “strong choice” of joining the EU. She added the Georgia was “closer than ever” to “European standards”. 

Botchorishvili recognised the acceleration of Georgia’s integration process - displayed in the Government’s submission of an official membership application ahead of the planned 2024 date - had been caused by the Russian aggression on Ukraine. She added the EU “must make a geopolitical decision” on “where the EU border will be crossed in a decade”.