Georgia took the European perspective with great responsibility, to ensure the highest political and economic compatibility with the European Union, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Tuesday at the press conference held after the 7th session of the Georgia-EU Association Council.
The Head of the Government said Georgia fully felt the “responsibility and commitment” to all the 12 priorities outlined by the Council for granting the country candidate status and noted the “historic decision” to grant the country the European perspective has placed Georgia in an “absolutely new reality” showing “new target orientations”.
Today's Council meeting is a very important event, since after the historic decision [of the European Commission to grant Georgia the European perspective] we are meeting for the first time in such an expanded format, we will see Georgia's progress on this complex but very motivated path, and this path will lead us to where Georgia believes it naturally belongs. We have common values and common goals, we support peace and solidarity”, said Garibashvili.
He also highlighted the “active role” of the EU in its support of Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty within the internationally recognised borders and stressed the need to fulfil the agreement on the ceasefire through the mediation of the EU.
We had a conversation about the ongoing war in Ukraine, including the ways to peacefully resolve the Russian-Georgian conflict, which had started in 2008, [...]. Since then, Russia has occupied 20 percent of our country”, the Head of the Government added.