Parliament official calls for West’s “bold” decisions on NATO enlargement

Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Georgian Parliament, on Friday said Georgia’s membership in NATO required a “political decision” and called for a “strong leadership from the West” on “bold decisions” on the bloc’s enlargement.

Samkharadze, who is participating in the Paris Defence and Strategy Forum, said alliance members “should be bolder” when discussing enlargement.

Georgia has done everything to fulfil the obligations that NATO membership entailed, and I would like to say that today Georgia is fully compatible with NATO membership standards”, he said.

“Nevertheless, our membership requires a political decision through which Georgia will become a member of the alliance. When talking about NATO enlargement, alliance members should be bolder. We need strong leadership from the West that will take bold decisions”, he continued.

An Annual Report of the Secretary General of NATO on Thursday said Georgia was one of the bloc’s “closest partners” and an aspiring member of the alliance.