The Chairman of the Georgian Dream said that some opposition parties’ refusal to engage in the implementation of the European Union conditions for granting the country the membership candidate status was a “step against depolarisation” of the political environment.

In his comments while presenting a report on the implementation of the conditions, Irakli Kobakhidze noted that “depolarisation - one of the conditions set out by the European Commission - was the most difficult of the recommendations.

“The fulfilment of this priority requires involvement of various actors, including the ruling party, the opposition, and any individual related to Georgian politics.

What we could have seen around these 12 conditions was a proper involvement of the opposition in the implementation of these recommendations. The Parliament offered to everyone - any opposition Parliamentary party - to be involved in the working groups’ activities, although several opposition parties refused to be involved. This was also a direct step against depolarisation.

The Speaker of the Parliament had launched a permanent monitoring of actions and statements promoting polarisation on the domestic political scene, and offered all interested parties to take a deeper look at the monitoring report, but received a very limited interest”, - said Irakli Kobakhidze.

He also answered the question of how the Government will explain to the public if Georgia does not get the candidate status.

“Theoretically, if we allow this possibility, it will be difficult to explain to the public. The public was disappointed in June last year as well, and naturally, if the same thing happens in December, it will disappoint the public. We will need to consider all the details that may be involved in this possible decision. There are political risks. Today we avoid talking about these risks. In the future, God forbid, if a negative decision is made, we will need to discuss all topics together with society. I hope that we will be granted candidate status and a positive decision will be made for Georgia”, - added the Chairman of the ruling party.