European Parliament, as well as the European institutions and European member states stand by Georgia when it comes to the support to Georgia’s sovereignity and territorial integrity and Georgia’s sovereign right to choose its own faith and decide its own aspirations and applications for the membership in different international organizations”, - said Sven Mikser, European Parliament Rapporteur for Georgia, at the joint sitting of two Committees in the Parliament.

“Pole after pole has indicated, that Georgians, whatever the political affilation, whatever the believes of interests may they have, vast majority of people actually support the aspiration of Georgia to come close to Europe, to come close to the European institutions and they also support the eventual goal of joining the Euro-Atlantic community as a full member. And this makes easy for us to say that our support to Georgia`s aspirations is not indication of support of one or the other political party, of political leaders, but it is the support that we express to the legitamte aspirations of Georgian people.

I would like to encourage Georgia to be ambitious. All countries have the right to apply for membership, but enlargement is a separate issue, separate from the Eastern Partnership. The Association Agreement is, of course, an important step in the process of striving for integration, but the Association Agreement does not automatically lead a country to candidacy. The success of this process depends on a number of issues, but the readiness of the country is critical. Philosophically I would say that the door of opportunity opens and closes and you may have to wait a long time for the door to open next time. I would say that this ambitious approach is important. Most of the reforms that are part of the Association Agreement are beneficial to the Georgian business climate, to the Georgian society. So, these reforms are beneficial and worth pursuing, even if we look at them independently of the ambitions of joining the EU”, - said the MEP.