Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee Chair: Germany “one of most important” partners for Georgia in EU, NATO
Samkharadze noted the meeting with the German official had focused on Georgia's path of joining the EU by receiving the membership candidate status. Photo: Parliament of Georgia
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Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Georgian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Chair, on Tuesday highlighted the importance of meeting the Vice President of the German Bundestag Katrin Göring-Eckardt by highlighting the role of Germany as "one of the most important" partners for Georgia in the European Union and NATO.
Samkharadze noted the meeting with the German official had focused on Georgia's path of joining the EU by receiving the membership candidate status.
“[W]e told her [Katrin Göring-Eckardt] that we were disappointed that Georgia had not received the candidate status [outright in June], but we also explained very clearly that the plan [for fulfilling EU conditions for the status] that we had presented would be thoroughly implemented”, the Parliament official said.
“We very much hope that the European Union will make a positive decision [on Georgia’s bid], to which the Vice President replied that if we fulfill all these issues [in the conditions], then we will have an unconditional support from Germany in the matter of receiving the candidate status”, he concluded in his comments.
Georgia’s path towards European Union membership and the importance of the country having been granted the European perspective were discussed on Tuesday in a meeting between the Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and the Vice President of the German Bundestag Katrin Göring-Eckardt.
United States Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan on Friday called the 12-point conditions of the European Council “the ticket for Georgia getting its candidate status” and said their fulfilment was the “priority” for the Georgian people.
Peter Stano, the spokesperson for the external affairs of the European Union, on Friday said Georgia would “get everything it had been promised” from the EU on the membership candidate status.
European Union Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell on Thursday said it was "very important for everyone in Georgia to realise” that the EU’s decision to “open the door” to Georgia with the European Council’s move to grant the country the European perspective was a “truly historic” moment.
German Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Peter Fischer will replace the outgoing Hubert Knirsch as the German Ambassador to Georgia in late August.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Monday held a farewell meeting with Hubert Knirsch, the outgoing Ambassador of Germany to Georgia, with the officials discussing relations and cooperation between the two countries.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday called for an enlargement of the European Union to eventually include Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.
Friendly relations and cooperation between Georgia and Germany were discussed by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Steffen Russ, the director of the German Federal Police Protection Service on Monday, the Georgian Government Administration said.
Maka Botchorishvili, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s European Union Integration Committee, on Friday said Georgia was at a “new stage” in its relations with the European Union and called for making “full use” of “new opportunities” as part of the EU enlargement policy.