Maka Botchorishvili, the Chair of the European Integration Committee of the Georgian Parliament, on Monday told the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for European Union Affairs in Madrid that her country “appreciated” the European Council’s decision last year to grant it a European perspective, but was “not hiding its disappointment” with the “unnecessary differentiation” between the country and the fellow EU membership aspirant countries Ukraine and Moldova, who were granted the membership candidate status.
She stressed EU bodies granting candidate status to Georgia later this year and opening negotiations with candidate countries, together giving them a “clear roadmap” to EU membership, was the “only way” to go, and added “it requires strong support, and we count on you with this regard”.
Botchorishvili highlighted Georgia had managed to be a “leader in the [South Caucasus] region” in transforming and reforming according to “best European standards” despite “immense security challenges”.
In these turbulent and unpredictable times, when Russia is using the same pattern in Ukraine as it has used in Georgia, we do not have the luxury to delay important political decisions, which have to create a solid basis for expanding peace, security, and prosperity for the future of Europe, for our common future”, she said.
She stressed it would be “unfair” to divide Europe into “black and white today”, and reject the country’s European goals, which enjoyed “clear European identity and aspirations” and had fought against Russian aggression for more than three decades and had two of its regions still occupied by Moscow.