Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said he hoped the European Union would make a "fair decision" on granting Georgia the membership candidate status by the end of the year.
In his remarks over the matter, Kobakhidze noted the “positive” statements and support for the country’s EU integration by the Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who visited Georgia on Monday, were “very important”.
In general, it is becoming an increasingly common subject to talk about the fact that the decision on the candidate status for Georgia was not correct", the party Chair said in reference to the European Council granting a European perspective, instead of the full membership candidate status, to Georgia in June 2022.
“It is clear to everyone that in any direction, Georgia is much ahead of other countries, and therefore Georgia definitely deserves the status of a candidate country for the European Union. We have high hopes that the European Union will make a fair decision this year”, he added.
Kobakhidze also vowed the Government would do “absolutely everything” to ensure the country would be granted the candidate status.
In its June decision, the European Council granted the membership candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, and said it would be ready to grant the same status to Georgia once the outstanding priorities outlined by the European Commission were addressed by the Georgian Government.