Parliament official highlights EU member states’ support for Georgia’s candidate status

Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee, on Sunday said he “could not imagine” European Union member states voting against the membership candidate status for Georgia following a positive opinion of the European Commission on the matter later this year.

Samkharadze acknowledged the Georgian Government had not developed “good” relations with some EU member states over the past year due to the topic of the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili - citing Poland as an example - but added “this does not mean that Poland is against granting the candidate status to Georgia”.

Poland, as an important state, has always been our supporter on the European and Euro-Atlantic path. Therefore, they will not vote against the candidate's status under any circumstances”, he said.

The Parliament official added the Georgian authorities had received “support” from “all countries” to support “moving to the next stage if the European Commission considers the conditions [for the status] fulfilled”.