Georgia “ready to receive” EU candidate status - FM
"We are ready to move to a new stage of relations with the European Union," the Minister told MP’s.Photo: Foreign Ministry.
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Georgia meets the “necessary parameters” and is ready to receive the status of an European Union candidate country, Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili said on Friday at a plenary meeting of the Georgian Parliament.
Darchiashvili said a decision to grant Georgia the membership candidate status also required “readiness” of the European Union to “open the door” to new members, adding Georgia was “not only equal” to Western Balkan states in its reforms for membership bid, but also “in many ways ahead” of them.
The Minister emphasised the Government’s intention to join the EU was a “historic decision” based on the “civilisational choice” of the Georgian people to “return to their natural place” of the “European family”.
Darchiashvili said he believed the application for membership was the “only logical and fair” step of the Government in the “historical new geopolitical environment” in the Black Sea region following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
"We are ready to move to a new stage of relations with the European Union," the Minister told MP’s.
In his comments at the legislative body, Darchiashvili also noted the decision on granting the status to Georgia was expected at the EU Council meeting at the end of June.
Georgia's future is European and the country’s “place is in the European Union,” Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Ilia Darchiashvili said on Friday at a plenary meeting of the Georgian Parliament.
Georgia has made the most progress among Eastern Partnership states in implementing the Association Agreement signed with the European Union, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili told reporters in the central Georgian city of Gori on Saturday.
The European Union is “working hard” to respond to the membership bids by the Associated Trio countries of Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova, Josep Borrell, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said on Monday before a meeting EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili handed over the second completed part of Georgia's European Union membership questionnaire, filled out by the country ahead of schedule, to Carl Hartzell, the Head of the EU Delegation to Georgia, on Tuesday.
The European Commission’s opinion on granting Georgia the European Union membership candidate status is expected to be delivered next week, Carl Hartzell, the EU Ambassador to Georgia, said on Monday.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili will visit Brussels on Wednesday to hold meetings at the European Commission and European Parliament, the foreign office said on Tuesday.
Vakhtang Makharoblishvili, Georgia's Representative to the European Union, on Wednesday said the upcoming visit of Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili to Brussels for high-level meetings with European Commissioners would be “very important” for the country.
The new initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron on forming an alliance of non-European Union states is “not an alternative” to the European integration process for Georgia, Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili said on Wednesday.
The priorities of Georgia-European Union cooperation, reforms implemented in the country for approximation to EU standards, and the “dynamic process” of implementation of the 2014 Association Agreement were discussed on Wednesday in a meeting between the Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili and the European Commissioners for Transport, Crisis Management and Environment.
Georgia-European Union relations and reforms implemented or ongoing in the country within the framework of the Association Agreement were discussed on Thursday in Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili’s meeting with Marina Kaljurand, the Georgia-EU Parliamentary Committee Chairwoman and Sven Mikser, the Rapporteur on Georgia of the European Parliament.
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Saturday said “a number of meetings” had involved the Government head and Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili with European Union leaders to discuss the country's European integration process and its EU membership bid.
Georgian foreign minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Thursday said his country was united with Ukraine and Moldova by common European integration goals.