Ruling party MP: Georgia deserves EU candidacy “even more” this year

Rati Ionatamishvili, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Friday claimed Georgia “deserved” to receive the European Union membership candidate status last year and said a positive decision on the country’s application this year was even more appropriate.

In his remarks over the process related to the Government’s work to obtain the status, Ionatamishvili said the bloc granting the status to Georgia would end the polarisation of the domestic political scene.

“It will be the most important decision, even just from this point of view. After the European Union gave us a European perspective, the radical opposition began to speculate on the issue”, Ionatamishvili said.

In the end, it is clear that their [the opposition’s] radical agenda will never be implemented, but it would be better for the common cause that the less polarisation there is, the more room there is for healthy discussion. Georgia deserved to receive the candidate status last year as well, and this year it deserves [the outcome] even more”, he concluded.