Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said after his visit to Brussels that he was optimistic about Georgia’s prospects for EU membership.
“Personally, I felt like we should have positive expectations. Although, of course, before that a lot of things need to be resolved,” Garibashvili told reporters on June 21.
At the same time, the Prime Minister of Georgia explained that in meetings with senior EU officials he highlighted the current situation in the world and stressed that in the current situation, “separating Georgia (from Moldova and Ukraine) would be a strategic mistake by the West”, and that at this stage Georgia must “ensure that it obtains the status of a candidate country for EU membership”.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili (file photo)
Earlier, the chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Irakli Kobakhidze, expressed the view that the decision to grant Georgia candidate status could be due to “political” considerations and that in this case, contrary to claims from Brussels, nothing depends on Tbilisi.
Recall that in June 2022, unlike Moldova and Ukraine, the EU did not grant Georgia the status of a candidate country for EU membership. Brussels has announced that a decision on Georgia will be taken as soon as Tbilisi successfully fulfills the twelve conditions of the European Union, necessary to obtain candidate status.
It should be noted that this week the European Commission presents an interim oral report on the progress of Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova towards EU membership. On June 21, EU ambassadors in Brussels received the information and on June 22, the report will be discussed at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Stockholm.
At this stage, sources in Brussels say that Moldova and Ukraine have made significant progress in implementing the tasks that the EU has presented to them as a condition for starting EU accession negotiations. Although in the case of Georgia the situation is not so clear, given that Tbilisi has so far only fully fulfilled three conditions out of twelve, and also due to the fact that Brussels is wondering about the latest Georgia’s foreign policy preferences – its commitment to democracy and Euro-Atlantic orientation.
According to Euroactiv, citing reliable sources within the EU, Georgia will need to make efforts to overcome the polarization that divides the country, as well as to increase parliamentary accountability, focus on judicial reform, systemic deoligarchization and media freedom. At the same time, according to the publication, does the EU believe that Georgia has not made progress on the issue of media pluralism? and that there is a need for the state to take steps to ensure the safety of media workers and owners.
The United National Movement party of former President Mikheil Saakashvili doubts the positive outcome of Georgia’s “candidates saga”, given, as opponents say, the inaction of the authorities in carrying out the tasks necessary to move forward on the road to European Union.
Meanwhile, Independent MP Teona Akubardia believes there is still a ‘small opportunity’ for Georgia, although to take advantage of it, Georgian Dream must ‘stop the anti-Western rhetoric’ and actually implement democratic reforms. .
At the same time, the opposition “European Georgia” believes that granting the status of a candidate country for EU membership under the “Georgian Dream” regime will further strengthen the position of this party, which it considers as pro-Russian, although in reality this so-called status “will not give Georgia anything”. In particular, without the government’s commitment to reform, according to party leader Gige Bokeria, candidate status would be “illusory” because under an “anti-Western government” Georgia would not be able to move forward on the path to EU.
Political scientist Niko Toidze believes that if the EU is guided by the success with which the authorities have fulfilled the tasks that the EU has formulated for obtaining candidate status, Georgia is unlikely to become a candidate country. For example, the expert doubts that Georgian Dream is interested in solving the problems that exist in the justice system or in creating a more pluralistic media environment.
At the same time, if the EU considers that at this stage, in the case of Georgia, “other factors” play a more important role, it is possible that the country will obtain candidate status, but this will most likely do under other conditions.
These factors, according to Toidze, may be caused by geopolitical considerations, the reluctance to increase Russian influence in Georgia, due to the disappointment that will ensue among the population in the event of a negative decision, as well as the reluctance of the EU to “break” the so-called associated trio, which was created in 2021 Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
It should be noted that the final EU decision on Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine will be taken before the end of the year, in particular, it is expected that the European Commission will present to the European Council a package of enlargement and recommendations for three countries in October .
Read the Ukraine War News Latest Today on The Eastern Herald.
