Parliament Speaker: Georgia “deservedly” received EU membership candidate status

Shalva Papuashvili, the Georgian Parliament Speaker, on Friday said the European Union membership candidate status, which he said had been “deservedly” granted to the country on Thursday, would be “imprinted as a breakthrough moment of historic value”. 

Speaking at the Parliament, Papuashvili highlighted the “European roots” of Georgia and noted the “central aspiration” of national efforts had always been to “return to the historical place” since the state regained its independence in 1991.

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We are the most ancient European Christian nation, serving as the eastern bastion for the Christian world for centuries [and] one of the first fully electoral European democracies”, he told lawmakers.

Photo: Parliament of Georgia

The nation [...] has managed an incredible transformation from the Soviet occupation to the deserved EU candidate status over the last three decades”, the Speaker said in his comments, before adding the nation, “through our unity and contradictions”, were the “true heroes of this historic achievement”.

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Papuashvili’s address to the Parliament was followed by a rendition of the Anthem of Europe at the legislative body.