Parliament Speaker: each day of Georgia without EU candidate status an “injustice”

Georgian parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Monday said “each day” that went without Georgia having the European Union membership candidate status was an “injustice”.

In his remarks ahead of the European Commission’s anticipated recommendation this week on whether the country should receive the candidacy, Papuashvili noted the status would “eliminate the injustice” of the country having only been granted a European perspective last year. 

Georgia deserved the candidate status in June last year. The country was the leader then and remains the leader today compared to Ukraine, Moldova and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Not granting the candidate status to the leader was not a correct and fair decision”, he claimed.

“Each day that has gone without Georgia having the candidate status has been a day of injustice. Therefore, the granting of the candidate status would, first of all, eliminate this injustice. Ultimately, the decision rests with the European Union and its views”, the chief Georgian legislator continued.

Papuashvili stressed the Georgian Government had “done its best” to implement “all recommendations” submitted to Georgia by the bloc for granting it the status.

He also claimed a part of the domestic opposition and non-governmental organisations had tried to “disrupt the process in every possible way”.