Georgia's EU aspirations “strongest ever” - FM at Hungarian ambassadorial

Georgia’s Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Tuesday met with his Hungarian colleague Péter Szijjártó and attended an annual meeting of Hungary’s ambassadors, where he told the diplomats his country’s European aspirations had “never been as strong as today”. 

In a meeting with his counterpart in Budapest, and in his address to the diplomats, the Georgian official extended his gratitude to the country’s Government for its “firm and unwavering support” for Georgia’s EU integration, the Georgian foreign office said.

Highlighting Tbilisi’s “strong commitment” to the country’s European future, Darchiashvili called it a “long but result-oriented process”, and added Georgia “deserved” the bloc’s membership candidate status “to continue on its way to the next stages for membership”. 

We are confident that leaders of EU member states will make another historic decision [after granting Georgia a European perspective in June 2022] this year and grant Georgia the candidate status. We appreciate the active support of Hungary and the Minister personally, which is especially important for us in this crucial period", the Georgian Minister said. 

For his part, Szijjártó reaffirmed his Government's “firm support” for Georgia’s EU integration and stressed the country’s authorities had “done everything” to obtain the status, before emphasising Georgia’s “special role” for Europe in terms of security and energy diversification. 

The European Council has been scheduled to decide on Georgia’s candidate status in December, following the final report by the European Commission in October that would assess the country’s implementation of the required reform agenda.