Georgia’s membership in the European Union is an important issue. Such a statement made today the EU High Representative, ahead of a meeting of EU defence ministers in Brussels.

"We are talking to Georgia about candidate status, but that [granting candidate status] is not my competence.

The European Commission was in the process of preparing its opinion based on the membership questionnaire handed in by the Georgian Government”, - said Josep Borrell.

He also highlighted the ongoing visit of Georgian Prime Minister to Brussels, noting he would discuss with Irakli Garibashvili the current situation with the “same messages for Georgia that EU always has”.

“We will help Georgia as much as we can. We know that Georgia and Moldova are under threat from Russia and we are ready to help these countries, as well as Ukraine. Fortunately, there is no war in Georgia and Moldova”, - he added.