Parliament Speaker says he hopes efforts will be “appreciated” with EU candidate status

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Wednesday said he hoped efforts made by the Government for meeting recommendations for the country to be granted the European Union membership candidate status would be “appreciated” with a positive decision on it at the end of the year. 

“We are waiting for the assessment [on the efforts] by the European Commission on November 8. November 8 is the birthday of Ilia Chavchavadze [Georgian publicist, author and a major figure of the country's 19th century national movement] and we celebrate his birthday. I hope that on November 8, the work that Georgia has done will be appreciated, and the country will have the EU membership candidate status”, Papuashvili said.

The chief Georgian legislator also claimed “sabotage” from a part of the domestic opposition in lobbying against the country being granted the status. 

“The status is given to the country, the state - the state is its Government, which represents the Georgian citizens”, Papuashvili noted.

Papuashvili’s comments come after Khatuna Samnidze, an opposition MP and the Chair of the Republican Party, last week said “specific representatives” of the opposition were “hindering” the process of Georgia receiving the status.

Samnidze noted the unspecified opposition groups had “intensified” their alleged efforts against Georgia’s EU candidacy “in recent days”, which she said was “confirmed” by international partners.