Not granting Georgia EU candidate status “big political mistake” - MEP

Nacho Sánchez Amor, a Member of the European Parliament, on Thursday said the decision of the European Commission not to grant Georgia the European Union membership candidate status last year, had been a “big political mistake”, which strengthened polarisation instead of depolarisation in the country.

At the 12th meeting of the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee in Brussels, Sánchez Amor noted he had been “very critical” regarding the Commission’s decision not to grant Georgia the status, as the domestic opposition could use it to blame the Government for “the failure in fulfilling the most important task [obtaining the status] of the last century”.

The MEP stressed the European institutions had to be “consistent” and hold the opposition accountable for its role in polarisation, just like the Government. The depolarisation cannot be “demanded only from the Government”, he added.

If polarisation is beneficial for the opposition, [for] their own [political] agenda, we, the European Parliament, the European institutions should assign the blame to the opposition in the same way as to the Government”, he emphasised.