Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday said the European Union should grant the country its membership candidate status to “end or minimise” the polarisation on the domestic political scene.
Garibashvili said he had held meetings with “European colleagues” in Georgia and during the sidelines of the European Political Community Summit in Chișinău on Thursday, and added he had “firmly declared” to his counterparts that the objective of his Government was to “fully and transparently” implement the recommendations outlined by the European Council for granting the country the EU membership candidate status later this year.
In his comments to the local media, the Government head said “all work” for the fulfilment of the recommendations would be finished by late June, and noted the “destructive” domestic opposition did not participate in the formation of the working groups to implement the conditions.
The only remaining [recommendation] is [the one on reducing] the polarisation - a topic on which I have an opinion. I have publicly stated here, and with our European partners, that if our European friends really want to end polarisation, or to reduce it to a minimum, they should give us the status of a candidate [country]”, the Prime Minister added.