Georgia's accession to the European Union, the security environment in the Black Sea region and the situation in the Russian-occupied regions of the country were discussed on Thursday in a meeting between Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Georgian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Chair, and Anna Lührmann, the German State Minister for Europe.
Samkharadze said in the discussion, hosted in Berlin as part of the visit of a Georgian parliamentary delegation to Germany, the German official expressed “confidence” Georgia would receive the European Union membership candidate status at the summit of the European Council on Friday.
We had an interesting meeting with the Minister, who attended the EU General Affairs Council meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, [and] despite the failure to reach an agreement on Ukraine, she is still confident that Georgia will receive the candidate status on Friday”, he said.
Engaging conversation with ???????? State Minister for Europe/Climate @AnnaLuehrmann about ???????? EU membership and the upcoming EUCO, threats stemming from RU occupation, our role in facilitating peace in S. Caucasus &the EU enlargement process. Committed to further enhancing ????????-???????? ties. pic.twitter.com/blNVyayDsn
— Nikoloz Samkharadze (@Samkharadze79) December 14, 2023
“Both this week and in the future, Georgia will enjoy Germany's support on its path to EU membership. We also reviewed the difficult situation in the occupied regions”, the lawmaker continued.
Samkharadze also noted his delegation expressed its concern on the absence of use of the term “occupation” with regard to Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali regions in official documents of the EU and Germany, and asked the German official to “reconsider this matter”.