Georgian PM urges EU to grant candidate status to country by end of year

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili believes that if the European Union does not grant the country the status of a candidate for membership by the end of the year, it will be a big mistake. He announced this at the Global Security Forum in Bratislava.

The heads of EU member states and their governments have previously declared their readiness to grant candidate status to Georgia after it fulfills a number of conditions. At the same time, it has already been provided to Ukraine and Moldova. “I think it was unfair, it was a really unjustified, inappropriate move. For example, what is the message for Russia? That is, we, the Europeans, are leaving Georgia, which is two to three times better than Ukraine and Moldova,” the Prime Minister said.

Garibashvili also asked the question: if the EU and the US did not stop trade with Russia, then why should Georgia be an exception? “Georgia's trade turnover with Russia is less than one billion dollars a year. Last year, the European Union paid Russia one billion euros a day. Our influence on Moscow in the event of the introduction of economic sanctions would be 0.3%, but on our economy it would be very significant,” he said.

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