US Ambassador: addressing European Council conditions “priority” for Georgian people
Degnan stressed in her comments the “vast majority” of Georgians had joining the European Union as their “top priority”. Photo: Facebook/US Embassy in Tbilisi
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United States Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan on Friday called the 12-point conditions of the European Council “the ticket for Georgia getting its candidate status” and said their fulfilment was the “priority” for the Georgian people.
Degnan stressed in her comments the “vast majority” of Georgians had joining the European Union as their “top priority”.
I think they would like to see the passion and the energy go into working inclusively with the opposition, civil society, and stakeholders to address these 12 recommendations from the European Council that are the ticket for Georgia getting its candidate status. That is the priority for the Georgian people”, the US diplomat told local media.
Degnan underlined the US was working “very hard” to prevent the Russian invasion of Ukraine from expanding to include Georgia or another country.
We are working every day to try and stop this war as soon as possible. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin launched this war and Putin can stop it today. What the United States is working for is restoring peace and stability, so we can get on with the kind of work so important for Georgia’s future in the European Union, in NATO, in Euro-Atlantic family of nations”, she concluded in her comments.
Kelly Degnan, the United States Ambassador to Georgia, on Friday said any suggestion of the US interfering in the judicial process in Georgia was “simply not true”.
Peter Stano, the spokesperson for the external affairs of the European Union, on Friday said Georgia would “get everything it had been promised” from the EU on the membership candidate status.
European Union Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell on Thursday said it was "very important for everyone in Georgia to realise” that the EU’s decision to “open the door” to Georgia with the European Council’s move to grant the country the European perspective was a “truly historic” moment.
The European Commision will present a report on the priorities in the enlargement package in 2023 to give the Georgian political system “sufficient time” to “thoroughly work” on the priorities for the European Union membership candidate status, Michael Rupp, a representative of the European Commission, said on Wednesday.
Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Georgian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Chair, on Tuesday highlighted the importance of meeting the Vice President of the German Bundestag Katrin Göring-Eckardt by highlighting the role of Germany as "one of the most important" partners for Georgia in the European Union and NATO.
The European Union Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell on Wednesday said the significance of the formal recognition of Georgia as a potential future member of the EU could “not be underestimated”.
Ambassador Degnan and her team at the United States Embassy in Tbilisi are committed to working with the people of Georgia in support of their Euro-Atlantic aspirations, while Degnan has the “full support” of the US Department of State, the Department’s Spokesperson Ned Price said on Wednesday.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday called for an enlargement of the European Union to eventually include Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.
Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said domestic opposition parties were “trying their best to sabotage” the process of the implementation of the European Union conditions for granting the country the membership candidate status.
Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said it was a “paradox” that a Commonwealth of Independent States member state enjoyed the European Union membership candidacy, while Georgia, which he said was “advanced in terms of reforms and democracy”, had yet to receive the status.