Georgian officials in Brussels consultations as part of EU enlargement package
Georgian officials representing various state bodies and agencies held meetings in Brussels. Photo: Foreign Ministry press office
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Georgian officials representing various state bodies and agencies on Wednesday launched consultations with the European Union as part of the bloc’s enlargement package, the country’s foreign office said.
The consultations follow the change in Georgia’s status from an associated country to the group of states included in the bloc’s enlargement policy package, following the European Council’s decision last year to grant it a European perspective.
The switch was seen to be opening new prospects for the country’s further institutional and sectoral alignment with the EU, with Deputy Foreign Minister Teimuraz Janjalia heading the delegation this week in the consultations on “greater sectoral and institutional rapprochement” with the bloc.
Meeting members of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations and the body’s sectoral services, the country’s representatives reviewed involvement of the Commission in the country’s further integration into the EU’s single market in trade, industry, agriculture, healthcare, social issues, employment, state procurements, financial services, regional development, environmental protection and competition, the Foreign Ministry said.
The Ministry said the approximation process was based on the reforms carried out by the Georgian Government following the Association Agreement it signed with the EU in 2014, and would be an “important part” of the country’s EU accession process.
The body noted “intensive communications” would continue with the EU as part of the enlargement package, including through visits of the bloc’s representatives to the country.
The Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of the Slovak Republic on Saturday adopted a resolution “fully” supporting the European perspective of Georgia and the activities of the European Union and Slovakia, both at the diplomatic and political levels, which would promote the accomplishment of this perspective, the Georgian Parliament press office said.
Seeking for a pragmatic policy of EU enlargement replaced the so-called Euroscepticism that some European Union countries had. Now Georgian society and political leaders must consolidate to achieve the common goal of joining the EU, Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said on Thursday.
Irakli Chikovani, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said the Georgian delegation at the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe this week would talk about the progress made by the country's authorities in implementing conditions for the European Union membership candidate status.
The European Union needs to “keep preparing the ground” for enlargement for the Western Balkan states as well as Georgia, Roberta Metsola, the president of the European parliament said at an informal meeting of the European Council in Prague on Friday.
Maka Botchorishvili, the Chair of the European Integration Committee in the Georgian Parliament, on Thursday said the country’s Government was “doing its best” to facilitate its European integration and highlighted the “complicated” nature of the process.
Maka Botchorishvili, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament's European Union Integration Committee, on Monday said the country “definitely” deserved the European Union membership candidate status but noted it was a “political decision that must be made by the [bloc’s] 27 member states”.