MEP: Georgia’s work on EU membership conditions gives us “great hope”
McAllister emphasised EU enlargement remained a process based only “on merit” and required implementation of relevant reforms. Photo: European Parliament
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The fact that “serious work” on the implementation of the 12-point conditions outlined by the European Union to Georgia for membership is underway and both the ruling party and the opposition have presented their plans has “given us great hope”, David McAllister, the Head of a European Parliament delegation said in a joint press conference with Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili in Tbilisi on Wednesday.
McAllister also stressed the EU had “always actively encouraged” the parties in Georgia to reach an agreement on the relevant basic reforms, development of democracy and the strengthening of the rule of law, which he called “important” for the country.
McAllister emphasised EU enlargement remained a process based only “on merit” and required implementation of relevant reforms.
During their ongoing visit to Georgia, the MEPs will meet Government members, the Speaker and members of the Parliament, Prime Minister, leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream party and representatives of the opposition, as well as civil society representatives.
In his comments, McAllister noted the delegation would mainly discuss Georgia's application for EU membership, calling the decision by the EU to grant Georgia the European perspective last month “truly historic”. He said the move meant a “recognition” that the European structures supported the “European future” of the country and were ready to bring it closer to the bloc.
He also said he believed the country should solve certain “priority issues” in order to receive the candidate status for membership, adding Georgian citizens deserved to “live peacefully and safely in a free, democratic and prosperous country”.
Georgia must understand that the European perspective granted to the country by the European Parliament and the European Council is “extremely important”, President Salome Zourabichvili said in a joint press conference with Members of the European Parliament on Wednesday.
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”.
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.
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.
Georgia’s European Union integration and implementation of the 12-point conditions outlined by the EU to the country for membership were discussed on Wednesday in a meeting between Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and David McAllister, the Head of a European Parliament delegation.
Implementation of the 12-point conditions outlined by the European Union to Georgia for membership was discussed on Wednesday by the representatives of Georgian Parliamentary opposition groups and members of the European Parliament delegation, led by David McAllister.
The war in Ukraine and its effects on the Black Sea region were discussed on Thursday between members of the Georgian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and a European Parliament delegation led by David McAllister.
A six-member delegation of the European Parliament, on a visit to Georgia, on Thursday observed the consequences of the Russian aggression in the country by visiting the occupation line near the central Georgian village of Odzisi.
Viola von Cramon, a member of the European Parliament and part of a EP delegation on visit to Georgia, on Thursday said it was a “pity” that some opposition groups in Georgia were missing “an important chance” to join the work on the implementation of the conditions outlined by the European Union to Georgia for membership.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Thursday welcomed a delegation of the European Parliament on a visit to the country to discuss the European Council's “historic” decision on granting the country the European perspective and review prospects of deepening cooperation.
A European Parliament delegation that was on a visit to Georgia this week left the country on Friday after receiving a present from a civic activist living in central Georgia’s Russian-occupied Akhalgori district.
Plans of the “radical opposition” to form a technocratic Government in Georgia have failed, with the group now trying to “discredit” the state legislature through the formation of a parallel working format for work on Georgia’s EU candidacy, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuahsvili said at a briefing on Tuesday.
The European Union published its annual Association Implementation Report on Georgia on Friday. The report has reviewed Georgia’s implementation of reforms under the EU-Georgia Association Agreement over the past year.
Archil Talakvadze, the Georgian parliament’s vice speaker, on Wednesday said the domestic opposition had attempted to portray the conditions set by the European Union for granting the country the membership candidate status as “something very unusual and negative”, which he claimed stemmed from its efforts to act “against the country’s European integration”.