Ruling party head: Gov’t "doing everything” for EU membership candidate status
In an interview with Imedi TV, Kobakhidze claimed Georgia had deserved to receive the candidate status last year, before the EU made a “political decision” of not granting it to the country. Photo: Georgian Dream Press Office
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Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday said the Georgian Government was doing “everything” for the country to receive the European Union membership candidate status later this year in December.
In an interview with Imedi TV, Kobakhidze claimed Georgia had deserved to receive the candidate status last year, before the EU made a “political decision” of not granting it to the country.
We all already know that our country, our Government is doing everything for Georgia to receive the candidate status in December - this means fulfilling 12 points among them. As of June, we did everything we could do, and we proved it with the presentation we gave to the public”, Kobakhidze said.
The ruling party official also reviewed allegations by a part of the domestic opposition about the Georgian territory being used for circumvention of sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, by saying that “everything confirms that Georgia has an appropriate policy in line with the EU's priorities in this direction”.
He also told the interview the country was ready for the status "both in terms of fulfilling the [conditions for the status] and in terms of the overall picture [of readiness of institutions and legislation]”.
Pawel Herczynski, the European Union Ambassador to Georgia, on Tuesday expressed his hope Georgia would move “one step further” on its path towards the European Union accession.
Gert Jan Koopman, the head of the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission, on Wednesday said the Commission welcomed the Georgian Government’s “keen interest” in making “further progress” on the bloc’s conditions for granting the country the membership candidate status later this year.
Oliver Varhelyi, the European Union Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, on Wednesday said the Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili had assured him the country’s progress in its implementation of the priorities outlined by the bloc for granting it the membership candidate status was “well on track”.
The process of Georgia's accession to the European Union, the current agenda of the cooperation between the sides and future steps were discussed on Wednesday in a meeting between the Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili and Oliver Varhelyi, the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement.
Peter Fischer, the German Ambassador to Georgia, on Friday said members of the European Union “must” make it “stronger”, adding Georgia “must be part of it”.