Georgia is requesting the European Union membership candidate status the country has “deserved” through its 30-year “struggle for democracy” and reforms implemented by the Government over the past nine years, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Monday.
Garibashvili highlighted his Government’s agreement with the EU to include reforms that “must be continued” in the Association Agenda with the Union, noting Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili had also discussed the matter with the office of European Council President Charles Michel, the Government’s Administration said.
The Government head also pointed out Georgia was “not asking for anything special and undeserved” with the expectation of the membership candidate status, adding if the European Commission’s decision on the country’s membership application turned out to be “unfair”, the Government would “explain to the people in detail the main reasons” behind it.
The PM also stressed the ruling party had “done everything” for the EU integration of the country, while also formally designating the Euro-Atlantic course as Georgia’s foreign policy priority in the country’s Constitution.
Garibashvili stressed the symbolic significance of the formal EU membership application, which he signed on March 3, as the “climax” of achievements of his Government on EU integration.
He claimed “nothing European” had been part of the “purely classical dictatorial, authoritarian” Government of the United National Movement in the country, which he accused of having been “based on the oppression, torture and murder of people”. The PM also stressed democratic reforms in the country would “certainly continue” under his team.