Ruling party Sec Gen: Georgia will pursue European path regardless of EU membership bid outcome

Kakha Kaladze, the Mayor of Tbilisi and the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said the country would not deviate from the path of European integration regardless of the decision of the European Commission on Georgia’s European Union membership candidate bid.

Kaladze underlined Georgia, “especially in recent years”, had done “everything possible” to obtain the membership candidate status.

[But] [i]f we are not given the status, we will still pursue the path to European integration in order to be a part of the big family called Europe, and of the European Union. I think the decision [on candidate status] will be positive”, the GD official said.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Saturday said he remained “optimistic” that a “sensible decision” would be made by the European Commission on the country’s EU membership bid, which he said would be in the “best interest of both sides”.