The US Department of State 2021 Country Report on Human Rights and its assessments over Georgia will have its influence on the latter’s  EU membership bid, Founder of Georgia’s Reforms Associates (GRASS), former Deputy FM of Georgia Sergi Kapanadze told Front News on Wednesday.

Georgia applied for EU membership on March 3 and received a questionnaire containing 369 questions earlier this week in an accelerated manner.

The Georgian government must now answer the questions and based on the questions the EU will decide whether or not to grant Georgia a candidate country status.

Kapanadzed says that the EU will make the decision not only based on the answers, and that the block will also review the reports made by foreign states or credible organizations.

"When the European Commission begins to write its conclusion in accordance with the answer to the questionnaire, in the process, naturally, it will consider other assessments - as well as other reports and information from other sources. It is officially known that the European Commission does not write its conclusion only on the basis of the answers to the questionnaire,” Kapanadze said, adding that the Department of State Report is “very much expected” to be used.

He stated that the Georgian Dream government may think that the US Department of State report “was not alarming,” but said that the presence of the facts provided in the report will not benefit the country’s European integration process.