Kakha Kaladze, the Mayor of Tbilisi and the Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Friday expressed his “optimism” about the country being granted the European Union membership candidate status later this year.
In his remarks over the matter, Kaladze said the Georgian Government and citizens had "done everything” to receive the status that greenlights an eventual membership in the bloc.
Our country has done everything in order to be granted the status of a candidate [country] [this year]. Even though we deserved it from the beginning, if we compare the countries that were given the status [Ukraine and Moldova]”, Kaladze said.
“We were given a guide on what to do, and the Georgian Government, together with citizens, has worked very hard, and done everything for the country to receive the status”, the official continued.
Kaladze added a "political decision" had been made last year in not granting the country the status, adding “it still depends on [EU bodies] what they decide”.