“Let me greet you all and say a few words to our fellow citizens. The European Commission made a historic decision on June 17 and a historic entry has appeared in its Opinion, whereby the European Commission recommends the European Council grant a European Perspective to Georgia to let it eventually become an EU Member State. As Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission announced, Europe has wide-opened its doors to Georgia. It is a historic decision indeed!” stated Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia at the Executive Government Meeting today.
As he noted, recommendations that need to be implemented by the country were on the agenda of the national authorities anyway, though there are others as well, and work will be continued with Brussels in relation to them and Georgia will get its candidacy status.
“I congratulate each Georgian on this historic decision. The second entry in the recommendations of the European Commission to the European Council is the following: Georgia be granted an EU candidacy status as soon as the priorities, i.e. conditions, are achieved. Now, as the European Council approves the recommendations, we will thereafter start work with Brussels, of course. I wish to clarify for our fellow citizens that the majority of these recommendations were on our agenda anyway. There are other topics as well, which will be cleared with Brussels. We will work with them and get EU candidacy status.
“Hereby, I wish to explain to our fellow citizens, as I know that the majority of them have certain questions as to why Moldova and Ukraine turned out to be more incentivized. I wish to clarify to our fellow citizens the following: Moldova and Ukraine have an absolutely identical entry in terms of European Perspective, i.e. Opinions of the European Commission on these countries also include a recommendation to the European Council to grant them perspective and status. That is, status is given to them in advance in real terms. It is an incentivizing advance for Ukraine, which is in the heaviest war, and for Moldova, which is also in a very hard situation. At the same time, they are also requested – urged – to carry out a number of reforms. In our case it is the other way round: we should first meet all the conditions that are laid out in the Opinion of the European Commission, carry out these reforms, implement the priorities and Georgia will be granted the status afterwards,” stated the Prime Minister of Georgia.
Garibashvili emphasized that all the tangible achievements related to the EU integration of Georgia are great merits to the Georgian Dream.
“We understand it well that Ukraine is in the most difficult condition. It has already lost 20% of its territories and war continues. Moldova is also in the hardest situation as well. If anyone was damaged by this war, it was Moldova as one of the first affected countries, because it is a neighboring state and a lot of refugees and displaced persons found shelter there. Moldova experienced a significant rise in the economic and security risks as well. You may remember what I said publicly last week. Our European colleagues were telling me and I openly conveyed that Ukraine is given this status because it is at war. You have seen yourself that several days ago European leaders were publicly confirming this fact, stating that this decision was made because Ukraine is at war. They were saying the same in private conversations with me, thereby noting that Moldova is also in a very difficult condition. Thus, I truly do not envy either Ukraine or Moldova. I wish to congratulate our friendly Ukrainian and Moldovan people on this success. I want to wish them peace and unification of the country.
I also wish to tell our dear people that all the tangible achievements related to the EU integration of Georgia are great merits to the Georgian Dream and Bidzina Ivanishvili. I wish to remind several of them to our people: Association Agreement (AA/DCFTA), Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Visa-Free Travel Arrangement, now the European Perspective and candidacy status. It is all associated with the governance of the Georgian Dream. Thank you! I wish peace and development to our country!” stated the Prime Minister of Georgia.
