Foreign Minister: Macron initiative on non-EU states’ alliance “not an alternative” to  Georgia’s European integration

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.

In comments to reporters in Brussels, Darchiashvili acknowledged details of Macron’s proposal last month on uniting countries like the United Kingdom and Ukraine outside of EU structures would be released later, but emphasised Georgia would “stay on the main road” of EU integration.

The Minister added “any additional mechanism” that helped the Associated Trio states of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine to accelerate their European integration would be welcomed by the Georgian Government and be “definitely” considered.

Darchiashvili also said Georgia “really deserves” a “tangible result” from the European Union on its membership bid, adding Government reforms gave the country “grounds to assume” that a decision of the European Commission on granting EU membership candidate status to the country would be “positive”.