The Government of Georgia is already preparing an application for EU candidate status under hastened procedure, which will be officially submitted to the EU structures on behalf of the Georgian government tomorrow. Such a statement made today the Chairman of the Georgian Dream.

“The opposition, which ironically assessed our ambitious program plan to apply for EU membership in 2024 and receive EU candidate status, has today created an artificial noise around this issue.

This noise also has the sole purpose of linking the application to the imposition of sanctions and Georgia’s involvement in the armed conflict. We emphasize once again that the imposition of sanctions and the involvement of Georgia in any form of military conflict will have the worst consequences for our country and the people of Georgia.

Linking the EU membership candidate status with sanctions or participation in the hostilities is categorically unacceptable to us. On the contrary, no one in the EU needs an economically weak or vulnerable country.

Submitting an application in 2024, backed by new reforms, as envisaged by the Georgian Dream election program, would have had many advantages over a hasty application. However, given the general political context and the new reality, the Georgian Dream made a political decision to apply for EU membership urgently.

The Government is already preparing an application for EU candidate status, which will be officially submitted to the EU structures on behalf of the Georgian Government tomorrow. We call on the EU structures to consider our application in an emergency mode and make a decision on granting Georgia the status of an EU candidate.

Over the past years, our Government has had a number of impressive achievements on its path to EU integration. We signed the Association Agreement and the Free Trade Agreement with the EU, we adopted a visa-free regime. We defined EU integration as a constitutional task. We implemented many reforms that brought the country closer to EU standards”, - said Irakli Kobakhidze.