Survey puts Georgians’ support for EU, NATO membership at 81, 73 percent
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A new survey released on Thursday by the National Democratic Institute and CRRC Georgia has shown 81 percent of Georgian citizens support the country’s aspirations of joining the European Union, with 73 percent backing NATO integration.
NDI Georgia country director Alan Gillam said the results made it “clear the settled will of the Georgian public is Euro-Atlantic integration” and added support for EU membership “comes in extremely high alongside NATO membership”.
Image: NDI Georgia.
The organisation noted support for joining the EU was lowest in areas predominantly featuring ethnic minority communities, with supporters of the ruling Georgian Dream Government being “most confident” the country was getting closer to the bloc.
Run between December 3-20 through face-to-face interviews with a nationwide representative sample of Georgia’s adult population, excluding the occupied territories, the poll involved 2,519 completed interviews, with the average margin of error at 1.6 percent.
Image: NDI Georgia.
Georgia applied for EU membership in March 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and was granted a European perspective by the European Council in June, along with priorities to address for gaining the bloc’s candidate status.
In his comments last month, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said a majority of the conditions for the candidate status had been met by his Government, and added the remaining priorities required engagement of domestic opposition groups, some of whom have refused to join the work on the conditions.
A plurality of Georgian citizens said the country was heading “in the right direction” in a new survey released on Thursday by the US National Democratic Institute and CRRC Georgia.
The approval rate of the Georgian Government’s performance has increased by 10 percent since last summer, a new survey released on Thursday by the US National Democratic Institute and CRRC Georgia said.
A quarter of Georgian citizens polled in a new survey by the US National Democratic Institute and CRRC Georgia named the ruling Georgian Dream party as being “closest” to their views, while the opposition United National Movement was cited by six percent of those surveyed.
The Georgian Government has ensured “all possible” progress for the country’s European integration over the past decade, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Monday at his joint briefing with visiting Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer.
Pawel Herczynski, the European Union Ambassador to Georgia, on Friday congratulated the country’s Government on a “positive report” on Georgia’s alignment with the European Union, released by the European Commission on Thursday.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Friday said the European Commission’s new report on Georgia had revealed that under an “objective decision” the country should “definitely” receive a European Union membership candidate status this year.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday responded to the newly published European Commission report on the country’s alignment with the European Union by stressing the document had “once again demonstrated” his country deserved the membership candidate status as a “top reformer”.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Thursday said the annual NATO-Georgia Commission meeting later today would discuss the country’s existing cooperation with the alliance and plans for future “joint activities”.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Thursday told Mircea Geoană, the NATO Deputy Secretary General, his country remained committed to Euro-Atlantic integration.
An annual survey by the European Union Neighbourhood Communication Programme for the Eastern Neighbourhood has revealed 84 percent of Georgians believe their country has “good relations” with the bloc.