Georgian PM says Brussels “needs to be more flexible” in EU membership talks

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Thursday said the European Union  needed to be “more flexible” in  the country’s membership talks, saying “the ball is in Brussels' court” on the matter.

In his interview with Euronews, Kobakhidze said his Government was facing “some significant challenges with the European bureaucracy”, but emphasised that he was “still very optimistic” that the country would obtain EU membership by 2030.

[We] will be consistent in following this goal and then hopeful that the approach to Georgia will be more fair in the next coming years”, he told Euronews.

The PM stressed Tbilisi's policies were not to blame for the fact that there were currently “not healthy relations” between Georgia and the EU.

It's because of the European bureaucracy and the policies towards Georgia. So, if that policy changes, everything will be in a better shape”, the Government head said.

He further added that Georgia had “no space for restoring diplomatic relations [with Russia] because of the occupation of our two historic regions”.

“This territorial integrity is recognised by the international community, and of course we have to defend our national interests in this respect, but our vision is peaceful”, he said.

A non-peaceful solution is absolutely impossible. We would like to restore our territorial integrity - there's no alternative - and we are hopeful at some point this will be realistic. Let’s see. But we run with a pragmatic policy and that’s the key content of our policy towards Russia. We are keeping trade and economic relations with Russia and that’s how we are going to run it for now”, he continued.

When asked about Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and  prospects for a peace agreement, Kobakhidze said there was “no alternative to a ceasefire”.