Croatian PM vows support for Georgia’s EU candidacy, points to “key importance” of European Commission report
Plenković said the inclusion of a paragraph on the bloc’s expansion in the EPC Granada declaration was “good”. Photo: Croatian Government
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Andrej Plenković, the Croatian Prime Minister, on Friday pledged his Government's support for Georgia’s European Union membership candidate status later this year, and noted the European Commission’s forthcoming report in early November, which will evaluate Tbilisi’s efforts to meet the candidacy conditions, would be a “main element” in the process.
In his press comments following the European Political Community Summit in Granada, Spain, the official claimed the current imprisonment of Georgia’s former President Mikheil Saakashvili would not have “any significant effect” on Tbilisi’s EU integration, and highlighted the bloc’s member states would use the European Commission’s report in their discussions whether to support Tbilisi’s candidacy in December.
Plenković said the inclusion of a paragraph on the bloc’s expansion in the EPC Granada declaration was “good”, and also cited the European Council President Charles Michel as saying earlier this year that the bloc planned enlargement by 2030.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Friday said Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s meetings with foreign leaders as part of the European Political Community Summit in Spain this week had been followed by “supporting messages” for the country’s European Union candidacy, and contrasted the outcome with President Salome Zourabichvili’s foreign visits.
Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration was in focus of the meeting between the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis that took place on Thursday on the sidelines of the European Political Community Summit in Granada.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Thursday met Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov on the sidelines of the European Political Community Summit in Spain to discuss cooperation between the countries and future cooperation perspectives.
Georgia's progress in implementing the European Union conditions for granting the country the membership candidate status was discussed on Thursday in a meeting between the Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, on the sidelines of the European Political Community Summit in Granada.
Davor Dretar, the Head of the Georgian Parliamentary Friendship Group in the Croatian Parliament, on Tuesday expressed readiness to help Georgia on its European integration path, noting “we welcome you with great joy”.