Georgians cannot tolerate injustice and oppression the most, once again I would like to express my hope that Georgia will receive the candidate status. Such a statement the Prime Minister of Georgia made at a joint press conference with the head of the Hungarian government Viktor Orban.

“In the last 10 years, our government and our political party have done their best to bring the country closer to Europe. If it was possible to achieve any specific results, all these results were achieved by our political team, whether it was the signing of the association agreement, the signing of free trade with Europe, the adoption of a visa-free regime for our citizens.

In 2022 we got a European perspective. Unfortunately, it should be noted that we, our country, were treated quite unfairly last year, and Mr. Viktor gave its name to this in Budapest when he called this decision “immoral and unfair”. Of course, we have done our best in the last year to implement all twelve recommendations that were given by the European Commission.

The process continues even now, it is a continuous process, of course. We are waiting for the decision of the European Commission at the end of 2023, which, I think, will have a solid basis, and most importantly, I want to point out that if we are talking about merit, Georgia naturally deserved it, since we know well the situation of those countries.

We know well which countries were given status and compared to them, of course, Georgia is 2, 3 times ahead in any field, be it public administration, transparency, corruption control or justice reforms.

In all directions, we are an advanced country and, of course, whether it is a decision based on merit or a political one - I understand that it is largely a political decision, Georgia should receive the status of a candidate, since it is the choice of our people and our country.

Our Government of Georgia has done its best in the last 10 years. Otherwise, the decision of Europe will be simply incomprehensible, devoid of any reasoning and devoid of rationality.

Georgians don’t love the most and can’t tolerate injustice and oppression. Once again, I want to express my hope that the majority of EU member states will make a decision and our country will receive the status of a candidate”, - said Irakli Garibashvili.