Parliament Speaker annual address highlights “historic” achievement of obtaining EU candidacy “without harming country's interests”

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday said the country’s Government had managed to secure the “historic” achievement of receiving the European Union membership candidate status last year “without harming the country's interests, weakening democracy or shrinking the economy”. 

In his annual report on the work of the legislative body, Papuashvili said the ruling Georgian Dream party had been the “only party” before the 2020 parliamentary elections to have the submission of a bid to join the European Union by 2024 in its campaign programme.

“Now it is 2024, and we can proudly announce that we have not only applied to the European Union for membership, but have also obtained candidate status”, he told the legislative body.

We were able to gain this historic achievement without harming the country's interests, weakening democracy or shrinking the economy. The Parliament fulfilled a historic mission when it assumed the role of a flagship among national institutions in obtaining the status of a candidate country for the European Union”, Papuashvili told MPs.

The chief Georgian legislator also said the Parliament had managed to adopt laws and regulations “directly aimed at fulfilling the tasks” related to the conditions for the EU membership candidate status.

Papuashvili stressed the granting of the status to the country in December had marked an appreciation by the EU structures of “joint efforts of citizens and the Government” for the purpose.