MEP Andrius Kubilius has stated that Georgia’s friends and allies were trying to convince the the country’s authorities to stop “political games”, claiming that the Georgian Dream government was “shifting blames” onto the EU, the European Parliament and country’s partners, instead of moving forward on the EU path to meet the conditions for the bloc’s membership candidacy. 

“Of course, all of us, Georgian citizens and partners, would be very happy to see how Georgia meets the 12-point conditions and becomes a candidate country, but time is running out very fast. We see good progress in the positions of EU leaders. The political will to expand the EU is much greater than it was before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“There is a clear understanding now that the European Union enlargement must go ahead, more ambitiously, more efficiently, faster. We are pushing the EU institutions to move forward, and if Georgia fails to fulfill the conditions, it will move slowly on the path to fulfilling these conditions, and if it lags behind Ukraine and Moldova, it will not be useful for you”, Kubilious told Formula TV on Monday. 

Georgia was granted European perspective in June and was given several months by the European Council to meet conditions for the membership candidate status.