Granting the EU candidate status will further strengthen the young democracy of Georgia and give an incentive to other countries of the region, the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament said during his speech at the hearing of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the French National Assembly.

“Europeanization has been guiding Georgia’s domestic and foreign policy for decades. Also, Europeanization gives impetus to Georgia’s democratization agenda. Currently, Georgia already has a European perspective.

There are no more questions regarding the European future of Georgia, which many generations dreamed of and fought for.

We are meticulously fulfilling the 12 priorities in order to be granted the status of a candidate country of the European Union. We started working almost a year ago, immediately after the publication of the decision of the European Council.

Within the framework of a very intensive, inclusive and transparent internal implementation process, in which all stakeholders were involved, we fulfilled almost 80% of the priorities.

We did this in close cooperation with civil society organizations, our partners in the European Union and, very importantly, the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR. Regardless of how this progress is evaluated, the fact is that we are creating a solid and long-term foundation for Georgia’s European future.

We hope that Georgia’s achievements will be properly evaluated and appropriate decisions will be based on merits. It is important not to separate Georgia from other partners of the Associated Trio.

The Georgian people and the government expect that this year Georgia will be granted the status of a candidate country of the European Union. Also, we expect that the EU accession negotiations with Georgia will start together with Ukraine and Moldova

Granting the EU candidate status will further strengthen the young democracy of Georgia and give an incentive to other countries of the region on their path of democratic transformation”, - said Shalva Papuashvili.