MEPs: Georgian opposition nearly begged us to grant Georgia EU candidate status
Georgian opposition almost begged Europe for candidate status, MEPs said
MEPs Marketa Gregorova and Viola von Cramon responded on Twitter to today’s speech by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili in Parliament. He accused the opposition of preventing Georgia from getting the status of an EU candidate.
According to Marketa Gregorova, she did not see Irakli Garibashvili in Brussels but met with representatives of the opposition, who asked the MEPs to support Georgia in granting candidate status.
— Have you been to Brussels? I didn’t see you. But I have been in meetings with the opposition and ALL of them almost begged us for the candidate status. So don’t lie. Come to Brussels and we can talk. Don’t be the problems, be the solution”, Gregorova wrote.
Von Cramon claims to have asked Irakli Garibashvili for a meeting during his stay in Bratislava but received no response from the Georgian Prime Minister.
“I even asked him to meet me in person during his stay in Bratislava. Unfortunately, there was no answer. I am very sorry about this, but what else could we have done?”, the MEP wrote.
The European Commission prepared a report on the issue of granting the status of an EU candidate to Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova on 17 June. It recommended granting the status to Ukraine and Moldova and called on both countries to fulfill certain obligations but did not recommend granting the EU candidate status to Georgia. Instead, the European Commission called on Georgia to fulfill the required conditions first, in order to be eligible for the EU candidacy.
A resolution on violations of media freedom in Georgia and the safety of journalists was approved by the European Parliament on 9 June.
On June 20, an unprecedentedly large-scale rally was held in front of the parliament building in Tbilisi in support of the European course of Georgia. Thousands of people gathered to demonstrate their loyalty to Europe and European values.
This action preceded an important decision for Georgia, which the European Union should take on June 24. On this day, it will be decided whether Georgia will receive the status of a candidate for EU membership.
