On Wednesday 31 May, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili called for her country to be granted candidate status for EU membership. Last June, while Ukraine and Moldova were granted this status, Georgia was granted the European perspective (see EUROPE 12978/1).
Speaking to MEPs in Brussels, the President said she was confident that her country would obtain candidate status by the end of the year. “The status will be a recognition of the people’s relentless fight for their European identity”, said Ms Zourabichvili, who acknowledged that recognition of the European perspective had made it possible to “close the debate on the geography” of the EU.
To be granted candidate status, Georgia must meet 12 criteria, which the President admits it has not yet done. “We should have done more, we could have done more and we should do more in the coming months to ensure that we do not miss our second chance [to obtain status], because the Georgian people will not forgive us for that”, she said in a speech aimed as much at the MEPs as at the Georgian people and politicians.
“What the EU is asking for is only an integral part of our heritage, our values, for Georgia to remain in tune with its identity, to eliminate the remnants of its totalitarian past and to return to itself and its European roots. The recommendations are not foreign ideas imposed on us in the same way as Soviet ideology”, said the President.
According to Ms Zourabichvili, the granting of status, “which will be a declaration of our determination and not of confrontation”, would ensure the security of the country, which is facing a Russian occupation of 20% of its territory and a Russian hybrid war, as well as protecting Georgian democracy.
The President highlighted the strong European support of the Georgian people, who do not hesitate to take to the streets to demonstrate this, as they did last March to denounce the law on the transparency of foreign influence (see EUROPE 13137/15). “The nation has already made up its mind, our European choice is not only legitimate, it is also without alternative, because it is based on our values, our history, our struggles, our determinations and our vision for the future”, she reiterated.
And at a time when the country is in the grip of major political polarisation, Ms Zourabichvili promised that she would continue to work for national reconciliation, while acknowledging that she could not boast any “major successes” to date. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)