EU Commissioner gives “most important“ advice for Georgia to focus on fulfilling EU conditions
Varhelyi stressed it was “important to focus” on the conditions outlined by the European Council, in order to “quickly expand” the discussion on how Georgia should become a membership candidate country. Photo: European Commission
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Oliver Varhelyi, the European Union Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, on Tuesday said the “most important “advice for Georgia was to focus on the conditions of the European Commission for granting the country the EU membership candidate status, and expressed his hope “all stakeholders” in the country would work on the objective.
Varhelyi stressed it was “important to focus” on the conditions outlined by the European Council, in order to “quickly expand” the discussion on how Georgia should become a membership candidate country.
In his remarks, Varhelyi also noted “all stakeholders” in Georgia should work on the implementation of the conditions, pointing out “this is a unique opportunity that comes once in a lifetime”.
On June 24, the European Council granted the membership candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, and said it would be ready to grant the same status to Georgia once the outstanding priorities outlined by the European Commission were addressed by the Georgian Government.
On July 1, the ruling Georgian Dream party presented its strategy for fulfilling the conditions outlined by the European Council for granting the country the EU membership candidate status.
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.
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.
The process of joining the European Union must be based on the consensus of the “whole nation” and everyone should work together, not only the government but all political parties, Josep Borrell, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said on Tuesday at the joint press conference with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi in Brussels.
Georgia has quite a long list of reforms that need to be implemented in the country and the EU will deploy the necessary help and funds to continue to work in this direction, EU Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi stated at a news conference after an Eastern Partnership Foreign Affairs Ministers’ meeting today.
Josep Borrell, the European Union high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, on Tuesday said the implementation of the 12-point conditions for obtaining the EU membership candidate status was not only the Georgian government’s job but “everyone”, including citizens, should stand together to fulfil the recommendations.
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.
Maka Botchorishvili, the chair of the Georgian parliament’s European Union integration committee, on Thursday said European partners “unequivocally” supported the idea of the country’s integration into the European Union and a successful implementation of EU conditions for granting the country the membership candidate status.
Josep Borrell, the vice president of the European Commission and high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, on Thursday said the bloc would “step up” its work in support of cyber defence capacity building of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova among other partners.
Oliver Varhelyi, the European Union commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement, will visit Georgia to hold meetings on Tuesday, the government administration has announced.
Pawel Herczynski, the European Union’s ambassador to Georgia, on Tuesday said he hoped the visit of Oliver Varhelyi, the EU commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement, to the country would push the relations “even further”.
Vakhtang Makharoblishvili, Georgia's representative to the European Union, on Tuesday said the visit of Oliver Varhelyi, the EU commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement, to the country would focus on the “new opportunities” the “new reality” had brought to Georgia.
Oliver Varhelyi, the European Union commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement, on Tuesday told a press briefing in Tbilisi there were “obvious” signs the Georgian economy was developing.