Messages voiced at EU-Georgia Association Council meeting “very positive” - ruling party head
Ruling Georgian Dream party head Irakli Kobakhidze said on Wednesday the international community “should objectively respond” to the refusal of three Georgian opposition groups to participate in the ruling party-proposed working groups for achieving the European Union membership candidacy for the country. Photo: Georgian Dream press office
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Ruling Georgian Dream party head Irakli Kobakhidze on Wednesday said the messages voiced during and after the recent European Union-Georgia Association Council meeting in Brussels this week on the country’s European integration process were “very positive”.
In evaluations of the meeting of the Council, with the gathering held for the first time since Georgia gained the European perspective from the European Council and was given several months by the EU to address 12-point conditions for obtaining its membership candidate status, Kobakhidze said that while in Brussels, the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili had introduced “in detail” the moves of the Georgian authorities to meet the conditions.
Timely meeting with Prime Minister @Gharibashvili ahead of the EU-Georgia Association Council.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) September 6, 2022
We want to see Georgia advance on the ambitious reforms.
The EU will support Georgia on its European path. pic.twitter.com/DzwkV4ofpY
Speaking about the refusal of a part of the domestic opposition parties to participate in the GD-proposed working groups for achieving the EU membership candidate status, Kobakhidze said the international community “should give objective assessments” to their decision.
We have opened doors to all political actors to get involved in the process. It was our responsibility. Committee meetings, plenary sessions, working groups are open for all interested parties. The opposition are able not only to voice their initiatives, but also to see them included in various bills. The fact that some of the opposition parties had boycotted the process is completely their responsibility”, Kobakhidze said.
In further comments, the MP said work on the conditions was expected to be completed in three months’ time, noting “everyone will wait for the compilation of the term and make conclusions only after on how the conditions were fulfilled”.
At a joint press conference following the Council meeting on Tuesday, Josep Borrell, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Oliver Varhelyi, the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Policy, called on “all political parties and the civil sector” in Georgia to work together to “seize this historic opportunity to advance on the EU path”.
The European Union-Georgia Association Council highlighted the “historic importance” of the decision of the European Council to recognise the European perspective to Georgia and underlined the future of Georgia and its citizens “lies within the European Union”, in a joint press statement on Wednesday.
Josep Borrell, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said the European Council had “confirmed Georgia’s clear European perspective” in June, in comments following the EU-Georgia Association Council meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.
Oliver Varhelyi, the European Union Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Policy, on Tuesday said Georgia was a “country with a recognised European perspective” and called for a “message of encouragement” in comments following the EU-Georgia Association Council meeting in Brussels.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Tuesday expressed his confidence that the Georgia-European Union Association Council meeting would prove a “very important impetus” for the acceleration of the country’s European integration.
Maka Botchorishvili, the chair of the Georgian parliament’s European Union integration committee, on Tuesday said the “ultimate goal” of the Georgian authorities was to see the country join the EU, and the “most important” thing was to make “rapid progress” on this path.
The process of implementation of the 12-point conditions outlined by the European Union for granting Georgia the membership candidate status was discussed on Wednesday in a meeting between the Georgian parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili and Pawel Herczynski, the European Union’s newly appointed ambassador to the country.