PM Garibashvili: History has deemed the European choice of Georgian people as its strategic aim

“Since gaining its independence, our country has been consistently progressing and this day is yet another manifest of our effort,” the Prime Minister said. Photo: The Government of Georgia

Agenda.ge, 03 Mar 2022 - 17:52, Tbilisi,Georgia

History has deemed the European choice of the Georgian people as its strategic aim, the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Thursday with his signing of the country’s application for receiving the candidate status of a European Union member state.

"Since gaining its independence, our country has been consistently progressing and this day is yet another manifest of our effort,” the Prime Minister said in comments to mark the development, adding the state was “closer to the European Union as never before”.

In 2014, when I signed the Association Agreement between the European Union and Georgia in the capacity of the Prime Minister of Georgia, we assumed a tremendous responsibility towards our country and people to successfully start our journey of European integration and to make a strong and solid foundation to the eventual Europeanisation of our country, Garibashvili highlighted.

In other comments following the signing of the application, the head of the government noted “since 2014, Georgia has been successfully delivering its commitments assumed under the  EU Association Agreement in the capacity of an Associated Partner and has made significant progress towards legislative, economic and political approximation with the EU.”

The PM’s signing of the EU membership bid follows Wednesday’s reveal by Irakli Kobakhidze, the ruling Georgian Dream party Chairman, of the government’s work on preparing the application in an expedited manner.

On Tuesday, a draft resolution on the country’s EU membership was prepared by the Committee on European Integration of the Georgian Parliament. The resolution called on EU member states and institutions to take all necessary steps to accelerate Georgia's accession to the Union.