Croatian Parliament official says Georgia’s EU candidacy means “injustice being corrected”

Domagoj Hajduković, the Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the Croatian Parliament, on Tuesday said European Union structures granting the bloc’s membership candidate status to Georgia was an example of them “correcting the injustice” around last year’s decision that only gave the country a European perspective.

In comments after the European Commission’s recommendation to the European Council to grant the country the status next month, Hajduković claimed the 2022 decision was an example of “injustice”.

Finally! We are correcting this injustice. But the fight is not yet over. [...] Hopefully in December we'll be able to celebrate together. It was injustice to leave Georgia out. This is the first step on a very long journey. You’ll be members of the Union, the question is only when”, Hajduković said.

The official reiterated his country’s Government “fully” supported enlargement of the bloc. 

We are ready to support you. We have a similar experience, even with the occupied territories. We have other expertise to contribute, perhaps the peaceful reintegration of the occupied territories”, Hajduković continued. 

“Of course, the willingness of both sides [of communities divided by conflicts] needs to exist. We don’t see it on the other side [in case of Georgia]. There’s one on the Georgian side but that will change, I believe, with the European perspective. Maybe citizens [in the Russian-occupied territories] will think then that it’s better to be citizens of the European Union than of Russia”, he concluded. 

Paweł Herczyński, the Ambassador of the European Union to Georgia, on Tuesday said he hoped the bloc’s member states would share the recommendation of the European Commission and make a “positive” decision on granting Georgia the membership candidate status next month.