Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday told a panel at the Bratislava Global Security Forum the European Union not granting Georgia its membership candidate status by the end of this year would be a “big political mistake”.
Georgia will continue to move forward with all reforms, but I think that in this geopolitically difficult situation, not granting the EU candidate status to Georgia, which is a leading country in the Association Trio in terms of its work, would be an unavoidable political mistake, - Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili said at the Global Security Forum in Bratislava.
According to Garibashvili, the European Union gave tassks to Moldova and Ukraine too, but unlike Georgia, they were given their status in advance.
“That's the difference, so we don't understand why. We were only told that Ukraine was at war. We were also at war in 2008. 20% is still occupied, so where is the difference?! They said Moldova was in a difficult situation. Therefore, there is no rational sign here. If Georgia does not get the status by the end of the year, it will be an unforgivable mistake," Garibashvili said.
He added granting the status to the country would also ease its polarised domestic political environment, and pointed to “efforts” of several domestic opposition groups to “further deepen polarisation” by their “fake campaign” on the current Government's alleged cooperation with the Kremlin.
