Parliament Vice Speaker urges opposition to cooperate for Georgia’s EU candidacy, warns of possible harm

The Vice Speaker of the Georgian Parliament,  Archil Talakvadze, on Thursday called on a part of the domestic opposition to participate in the formats initiated by the ruling Georgian Dream party in the state legislature to address the priorities set by the European Commission in June for the country to receive the European Union candidate status by the end of this year. 

In his remarks following an event dedicated to the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Georgia in Tbilisi, Talakvadze suggested that the refusal to cooperate in the process could “harm the opposition itself” through damage being done to its image, as well as the country’s interests and its EU prospects. 

Speaking about the 12-point conditions set by the EU, which cover moves for depolarising the domestic political environment, “deoligarchisation”, judiciary reforms and other issues, Talakvadze said fulfilling all of the criteria would be “unlikely” without the opposition’s full-scale engagement.

The Vice Speaker stressed that the European Parliament delegation, on visit to Georgia this week, had also encouraged the opposition to “take their portion of responsibility” and join the ruling party in work for obtaining Georgia’s EU candidacy. 

The delegation of MEPs continues to hold meetings in Tbilisi. This visit is important as it comes following the European Council decision to grant Georgia the European Perspective and setting recommendations for the candidate status.  The main message for the ruling party [by the EP delegation] was to create appropriate formats to accelerate Georgia's EU membership process. We have created the format and now it is the opposition’s turn to join”, Talakvadze said. 

 He also said the EP supported the “peaceful resolution” of all confrontations or disputes, and not “destabilisation”,  which he said was “always sparked by the radical part of the opposition”. 

Girchi's Herman Szabo said Thursday that the opposition should participate in the formats for Georgia's EU candidate status. Photo: Parliamnet of Georgia press office. 

 In remarks on the ruling party’s offer for cooperation, Herman Szabo, a member of the Girchi opposition party which has not boycotted the process, said the standoff of the other part of the opposition “was baffling when the EU has called for unity in the process”. 

In his prognosis over the process, Sabo said if the section of the opposition continued to boycott the process, they would find themselves “in a very unfavourable situation” in case Georgia was refused the membership candidate status in December. 

The United National Movement, Lelo and Strategy Agmashenebeli Opposition parties have refused to join the GD-initiated formats for achieving the EU membership candidate status for Georgia, claiming the ruling party was “unwilling to work for Georgia’s European integration anyway”.