Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Garibashvili, has said he believes the country deserves the status of candidate for the European Union, taking into account the reforms carried out, the achieved progress and the difficult geopolitical situation.
He claimed that if the European Commission takes a negative decision regarding Georgia, it will be absolutely unacceptable and insulting “for us, our people and the country.”
“I had a meeting with Charles Michel, as well as with the leaders of several European countries, where I spoke openly with them. I talk more in private than I do in public. My message is simple, unequivocal and clear that the country deserves the status of a candidate for the European Union, taking into account the reforms carried out, the progress achieved and this difficult geopolitical situation. I clearly stated this to them. Otherwise, I told them that this would be another strategic mistake by the European Union, it would simply be very unfair treatment of our country and people. I did not say this by chance at the press conference with Borrell- Georgians really do not love unfair treatment, it is absolutely unacceptable, we will not tolerate it. In the same way, any attempt to oppress us and push us into the back ranks is unacceptable. And why? Because Georgia, in the so-called trio format, has always been and is still in the leading positions. We are ahead of Moldova and Ukraine in all directions. There are many areas where we are incomparably ahead of these countries. We are not offended by anyone’s good fortune, we are not jealous; we want to wish everyone more progress. I told them that we deserve the status, otherwise this decision of theirs will be inexplicable. I don’t want to get ahead of the events, but if there is a negative decision, it will be absolutely unacceptable and insulting to us, our people and the country.
“Last year, neither Ukraine nor Moldova had fulfilled any conditions, and yet they were given candidate status in advance (so-called bonus). We have done so many things after this one year, we did a lot before, but we have done so many things during this one year, we managed such an open and transparent process, of course the country deserves the status of a candidate.
“A few days ago, after America, Ilia Darchiashvili went to Brussels. He had good meetings and quite positive signals coming from Europe. I don’t want to get ahead of the events, the last few points that Borrell’s team left us, the final clarifications, you know Irakli Kobakhidze said that we are completing all this and will complete it, this process will be closed very soon, by the end of the month. So, our European friends will not have any reason or excuse why we should not get the status,” said Garibashvili.
