We are ready to grant candidate status to Georgia once the priorities in the Commission’s opinion have been addressed, said the President of the European Council in his report to the European Parliament.

“The Kremlin’s barbaric war against Ukraine has marked a tectonic shift on our continent and created a new geopolitical reality. Last week, with the 27 EU leaders, we took a number of major geopolitical decisions.

First, we decided to recognise the European perspective of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. The future of these countries - and their people - lies within the EU.

We also decided to grant candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova. This sends a strong message to their people and to our EU citizens. We are also ready to grant candidate status to Georgia once the priorities in the Commission’s opinion have been addressed.

Since the Russian attack, we have responded with unity to support Ukraine and we will stay right by their side for as long as it takes. We will continue to provide military support - we have already done a lot, but Ukraine needs more: so we called for the increase of military support for Ukraine.

We will also continue to support Ukraine financially and we count on the Commission to soon present a proposal to grant Ukraine new Macro-Financial Assistance of up to 9 billion euros in 2022. We are also committed to supporting Ukraine’s reconstruction, together with international partners”, - said Charles Michel.