Georgia “deserves” EU candidacy status, ball in bloc’s court - Parliament Speaker

Shalva Papuashvili, the Georgian Parliament Speaker, on Thursday said Tbilisi had done “everything” to obtain the European Union membership candidate status and the country “deserved” it.

Papuashvili said the ball was “in the EU court” on the decision on granting the status to his country by the end of this year, adding the outcome would “reveal” how the bloc saw “its own future in the South Caucasus region” and relations with Georgia. 

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He also claimed Georgia had done its “utmost” for its rapprochement to the bloc over the years in efforts to obtain the status and open membership talks. 

While acknowledging the country was not ready for the bloc’s outright membership at this point, the official noted it enjoyed the “same level of development” as candidate states. 

Georgia officially applied for the membership in March 2022, along with Ukraine and Moldova, shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The European Council in June granted Ukraine and Moldova its full membership candidate status with conditions, while Georgia received a European perspective and a reform agenda to obtain the status later. 

While calling the granting of the perspective “historic”, the Georgian Government also criticised the EU institutions’ decision as being “not based on merit”, and has urged the bodies to make a “fair decision” on the country’s status this year.