Prime Minister of Georgia meets with German Chancellor in Berlin
Georgian Prime Minister meets German Chancellor in Berlin
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Ukraine, the EU’s twelve-point plan for Georgia, and Georgia’s European perspective.
Ukraine
According to Irakli Garibashvili, Georgia is providing maximum support to Ukraine.
According to the Prime Minister, Georgia has sent more than 1,000 tons of humanitarian cargo to Ukraine, and supported many resolutions and statements in support of Ukraine.
“Georgia was the first to survive such a war in 2008, and since then, as you know, a significant part of our country, 20% of the territory, has been occupied. Russia continues to occupy our country, and so we have to avoid many provocations and manage the process related to borderization and many other problems,” Garibashvili said.
European perspective
According to the Prime Minister of Georgia, joining the EU is the will of the Georgian people, which “we will do our best to achieve as soon as possible.”
Garibashvili stressed that the Georgian government has a specific plan on how to transform, modernize, develop and carry out reforms in the country.
In addition, the Prime Minister added that a historic decision has been made about giving Georgia a European perspective:
“Our government is consistent on the issue of our country’s accession to the European Union. The European perspective and the European path is the choice of our people. This is a path and a process that are irreversible, and our government has accelerated it as much as possible over the past few years. Let me remind you that under our government we signed an Association Agreement, and a visa-free regime was introduced. Now, at this historic time, a historic decision has been made about the European perspective.”
Twelve point plan
“The European Union is doing everything possible to support Georgia in fulfilling the criteria required for membership,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated.
According to Scholz, in addition to supporting the fulfillment of legal and political measures, Germany will also help develop the Georgian economy.
“First of all, political support is important. The European Union is doing everything to support Georgia in fulfilling the criteria required for membership. This is a central opinion for all, and ultimately it is the task of the candidate countries to meet these criteria, but from us Georgia will receive all the support to carry out legal and political measures.
“We have excellent cooperation in the field of development policy, and this can be expanded; there are many other areas for future development – today we talked about the energy sector,” Scholz added.
According to Irakli Garibashvili, the government has opened the door to participation in the accession process to all factions in Georgia, because the government needs everyone, including the opposition and civil society, to participate in this process.
“I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank Mr. Chancellor. A few days ago, you loudly declared your support for our country, Georgia, the European perspective of our country, together with Moldova and Ukraine,” Garibashvili said.
On July 13, EC representative Michael Rupp said in a speech that the European Commission will prepare an assessment of the fulfillment of the twelve points outlined by the European Union for Georgia by 2023 instead of 2022.
On June 17, the European Commission prepared a report on granting Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova the status of candidates for EU membership. Ukraine and Moldova have already received EU candidate status and will be required to fulfill certain obligations, while Georgia will first be required to fulfill a twelve-point plan and conditions, and then have a chance to receive candidate status.
Earlier, on June 9, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on violations of freedom of the media and problems with the safety of journalists in Georgia.
Georgian Prime Minister meets German Chancellor in Berlin
