FM Zalkaliani: We must do our best to get EU candidate status
In an interview with Imedi TV channel, the top Georgian diplomat said that comments by leaders of some European countries showed positive expectations with regard to Georgia's prospects. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia
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Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani commented on Sunday on Georgia’s European Union membership prospects, stressing the country must do its best and use the opportunity to receive EU candidate status.
In an interview with Imedi TV channel, the top Georgian diplomat said that comments by leaders of some European countries showed positive expectations with regard to Georgia's prospects.
We should know that the circumstances created [by] the Russian aggression in Ukraine may accelerate this process. Demonstrating unity is very important, it will only be perceived in a positive light, David Zalkaliani explained.
Georgia officially applied for EU membership on March 3, with Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili signing the country’s membership application.
Bogdan Aurescu, Romania's Foreign Minister, said he will ask his counterparts for more support for partner states, “especially the Republic of Moldova and Georgia”, as the official arrived at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Friday.
"Slovenia supports EU membership for Georgia," Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša wrote on Twitter on Thursday, as the Georgian government officially applied for European Union membership for the country.
Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili has signed the application for European Union membership on behalf of the country, noting the “historic day” in his address to citizens.
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
Gaining European Union membership is a long and time-consuming process, Georgia's Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani said on Monday following the EU Council’s decision to ask the European Commission to examine the applications for the membership submitted by Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
Nikoloz Samkharadze, the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) MP who chairs the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Chairs of Foreign Relations Committees of the Parliaments of the European Union member states on Monday it was “crucial” the Union “demonstrates political will” and grants the country a candidate status.
The process of Georgia’s European Union accession is “no less important” than membership in the Union, Irakli Kadagishvili, the Chairman of the Rules and Procedural Issues Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, told reporters on Tuesday.
Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova deserve “European family membership” to an equal degree, Bogdan Aurescu, Romania's Foreign Minister, said before a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.
The Moldovan Government remains “in touch” with “our friends and colleagues” in Georgia and Ukraine as the three states proceed on their recent bids to join the European Union, Nicu Popescu, Moldova's Foreign Minister, said before a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.