EU Foreign Affairs Council confirms Georgia has made “significant progress” in “many key reforms”
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili was hosted at the meeting of the European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council on Monday. Photo: Foreign Ministry press office
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The European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council on Monday confirmed Georgia had made “significant progress” in “many key reforms” carried out in the country’s efforts for integration into the bloc, and highlighted the roles of rule of law, human rights, media, civil society and independent state institutions as “important elements” for each country aspiring to join the bloc.
In a Council meeting in Luxembourg, Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili was hosted to discuss the country’s European perspective ahead of the bloc’s forthcoming decision whether to grant it its membership candidate status by the end of this year.
The discussion also reviewed the need to “strengthen” the country’s democracy.
Glad to be participating in the EU #FAC session. This is a unique opportunity to speak with my colleagues regarding ????????'s progress in terms of implementing the EU Commission's 12 recommendations, as well as the steps ???????? gov't is taking to bring our country closer to EU Membership. pic.twitter.com/eaqijElWSR
— Ilia Darchiashvili (@iliadarch) April 24, 2023
Josep Borrell, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on Monday described Georgia as a “very important country” ahead of the meeting and pointed to the country’s “specific security challenges” - the occupation of 20 percent of its territories by Russia - on the backdrop of Moscow's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Georgia officially applied for EU membership on March 3, 2022, shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and was granted a European perspective by the bloc in June.
The authorities of the country also received 12 conditions to fulfil for gaining the candidate status, which include reforms of the judiciary, electoral system and other areas for the country’s alignment with the EU framework.