Europe needs “stronghold like Georgia” in Caucasus - Georgian MP
He also cited “interests” of logistics and energy corridors through the South Caucasus for the EU, and said Europe “needed” Georgia as a “family member” as well as for “pragmatic interests”. Photo: Parliament of Georgia
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Beka Davituliani, a member of the Parliamentary majority in the Georgian legislative body, on Monday said Europe needed to have a “stronghold like Georgia” in the South Caucasus region, while the country needed to receive the European Union membership candidate status and become a full member of the bloc.
Davituliani claimed the Government had “known in advance” that the topic of the candidate status “was going to become a kind of incentive for the domestic radical opposition”.
He said Georgia deserved the status as it was “definitely ahead” of Moldova and Ukraine - fellow countries who applied for EU membership in 2022 - leading to “dissatisfaction and resentment” when the bloc granted the status to the latter two but only a European perspective to Georgia.
He also cited “interests” of logistics and energy corridors through the South Caucasus for the EU, and said Europe “needed” Georgia as a “family member” as well as for “pragmatic interests”.
The European Union and Georgia share the “common vision” of a “peaceful and prosperous” South Caucasus region, with the country remaining “one of the closest and most important partners” of the bloc in the region, Pawel Herczynski, the EU Ambassador to Georgia, said on Thursday.
Nacho Sánchez Amor, a Member of the European Parliament, on Thursday said the decision of the European Commission not to grant Georgia the European Union membership candidate status last year, had been a “big political mistake”, which strengthened polarisation instead of depolarisation in the country.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday told a panel at the Bratislava Global Security Forum the European Union not granting Georgia its membership candidate status by the end of this year would be a “big political mistake”.
Pawel Herczynski, the European Union Ambassador to Georgia, on Monday said the “historic decision” by the European Council to grant Georgia the European perspective set a “new reality”.
Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, on Thursday said the body had granted the European Union membership candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, and was ready to grant the same status to Georgia once the outstanding priorities outlined by the European Commission were addressed by the Georgian Government.
Maka Botchorishvili, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament's European Union Integration Committee, on Tuesday said the Government’s European partners were “acknowledging” the “mistake” of last year’s decision not to grant the country the European Union membership candidate status.
Nacho Sánchez Amor, a member of the European Parliament, on Wednesday highlighted the “geopolitical mistake” of the European Council not granting Georgia the European Union membership candidate status last year.