Ruling party Sec Gen: Georgia will pursue European path regardless of EU membership bid outcome
Kaladze underlined Georgia, “especially in recent years”, had done “everything possible” to obtain the membership candidate status. Photo: Tbilisi City Hall
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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”.
Gunther Krichbaum, an MP from the Christian Democratic Union in the Bundestag, on Monday said it was “in Germany’s interest” to “open a path” to the European Union for Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.
Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Georgian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee Chair, on Monday said granting Georgia the European Union membership candidate status would be a “good motivation” to pursue “necessary reforms”.
Maka Botchorishvili, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s European Union Integration Committee, on Monday said the upcoming two weeks would be “very important” for the European Commission’s evaluation of Georgia’s EU membership bid.
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 European Union membership bid, which he said would be in the “best interest of both sides”.
The importance of deepening cooperation between Georgia and Norway in various areas was discussed on Monday in a meeting between the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili and the King of Norway Harald V.
Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger on Tuesday urged German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to support Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova as European Union membership candidates, while also calling on the German leader to see the horrors of the war in Ukraine with his “own eyes”.