Opposition “doing everything” against Georgia’s EU membership candidacy to spark unrest - ruling party head

Irakli Kobakhidze said unlike the opposition, the country’s Government was “doing its utmost” to obtain the status. Photo: Irakli Kobakhidze’s Facebook

Agenda.ge, 04 Apr 2023 - 13:18, Tbilisi,Georgia

Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said a part of domestic opposition parties was “doing everything” to prevent the country from receiving the European Union membership candidate status by the end of this year and use the development for “sparking unrest” in the country. 

In comments for the media, Kobakhidze said unlike the opposition, the country’s Government was “doing its utmost” to obtain the status. 

The official refrained from making predictions about the bloc’s forthcoming decision on the country, but added Georgia had had a “negative experience” when it was “unfairly denied” the status last year. 

We hope the EU decision will be fair in December. Let us wait”, Kobakhidze said. 

Pawel Herczynski, the European Union Ambassador to Georgia, on Tuesday said he hoped Georgia would become a member of the bloc, noting the outcome would bring “enormous benefits to the country”. 

Georgia officially applied for EU membership in March 2022, shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and was granted a European perspective in June, which the Georgian officials described as a “historic decision” but also labelled the move “unfair”, claiming Tbilisi deserved the status more than Ukraine and Moldova based on its democratic achievements.