Irish Senate Chair - EU enlargement should include Georgia
Buttimer said the benefits EU membership had brought to his country were “obvious” and added Ireland had “always supported” Georgia's EU aspirations. Photo: Georgian Parliament
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Jerry Buttimer, the Chair of the Irish Senate, on Friday said the position of the Irish Parliamentary Friendship Group was that the European Union enlargement should include Georgia.
In his comments to the media Buttimer said he had a “good discussion” with the Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on a “number of issues” regarding the country’s application for membership in the bloc.
Buttimer said the benefits EU membership had brought to his country were “obvious” and added Ireland had “always supported” Georgia's EU aspirations.
He said the bloc’s evaluations and analysis of Georgia’s progress on the path to membership, and of the fulfilment of the recommendations outlined by the European Commission for granting it the membership candidate status later this year, should be completed “on time”.
He also said Ireland and Georgia had a “good working relationship and mutual understanding” regarding the latter’s path to EU membership and said he hoped the question would be resolved “sooner rather than later”.
Georgia’s European integration and the progress of the fulfilment of the recommendations outlined by the European Commission for granting it the membership candidate status were discussed on Friday in a meeting between the Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and Jerry Buttimer, the Chair of the Irish Senate, on the sidelines of the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament in Dublin.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Friday alleged the Georgian Government had to “constantly deal with premeditated and well-coordinated defamation campaigns” that “inflict huge harm on the reputation of our country”.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday reviewed cooperation and the country’s European integration in meetings with his Finnish, Irish and Italian counterparts on the sidelines of the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament in Dublin.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday reviewed the existing relations and cooperation with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejčinović Burić and Pia Kauma, the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, in meetings on the sidelines of the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament in Dublin.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili will address speakers and presidents of parliament from the 46 member states of the Council of Europe and many partner, observer and neighbouring countries at the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament in Dublin.
The Senate of Ireland on Tuesday adopted a resolution calling on the European Union and its institutions to grant Georgia the membership candidate status.
Consultations on European integration are underway in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi between the deputy ministers of foreign and European affairs of Georgia and the countries of the Western Balkans, the Georgian foreign office said on Tuesday.