The opening of negotiations with the European Union is a formal decision that does not accelerate the country’s accession to the EU. Such a statement made today the Prime Minister of Georgia.

“I would like to respond to the events that took place yesterday. As you know, yesterday a briefing was held on behalf of the ruling party, where we once again confirmed our commitment to traditional European values and Georgia’s European course. We also once again confirmed our readiness to fulfill more than 90% of the obligations stipulated in the Association Agenda and the Free Trade Agreement by 2028.

It is precisely the fulfillment of these obligations that is the path to Georgia’s full integration into the EU. Yesterday we once again confirmed to the public that by 2030 Georgia will be more ready than all candidate countries to join the EU. At the same time, we announced our decision not to put the issue of opening negotiations with the EU on the agenda until the end of 2028. We also refused any budget grant from the EU until the end of 2028.

We would like to clarify once again that the opening of negotiations is a formal decision that does not accelerate the country’s accession to the EU. The best proof of this is Montenegro and Serbia, with whom negotiations were opened in 2012 and 2014, respectively, however, this has not accelerated their accession to the EU in the slightest. Another example is Turkey, with whom negotiations were opened in 2005, however, they were completely stopped in 2016.

Against this background, it is all the more unacceptable that the issue of opening completely useless negotiations is being used as an instrument of blackmailing our country and dividing society. Given this, temporarily removing the issue of opening negotiations from our agenda will have the only practical result - no one will be able to use this issue to blackmail the country and expel society”, - said Irakli Kobakhidze.