Tbilisi Mayor and Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Kakha Kaladze, on Monday accused European officials of using Georgia’s EU aspirations as a tool of political pressure.
Speaking to the press, Kaladze insisted that the Georgian government was ready to begin formal negotiations on EU accession and called for “immediate action” from Brussels.
“The European future should not be a permanent weapon of blackmail. You want to open [accession] negotiations, the Georgian government is ready. Draw up a document, we will sign it today,” Kaladze said.
Kaladze further claimed the country was unfairly denied EU candidate status in 2022, “despite performing better” than Ukraine and Moldova in key areas. He alleged that the decision to grant candidate status to those countries while excluding Georgia was politically motivated.
“When we were not granted candidate status, they treated us unfairly. They wanted to punish us and made a decision to give it to Ukraine and Moldova when we were ahead of these countries in all parameters,” he said.
The official also claimed that the EU’s approach was used to stir domestic unrest, accusing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of spreading misinformation about financial losses linked to the delay in Georgia’s candidacy.
“At that time, NGOs were telling people that by not receiving the status, we lost several billion in grants. They said Moldova would get two or three billion while we got nothing. Now we have the status – so where are these billions?” Kaladze asked.
The Georgian Dream Government late last year halted the country’s EU integration until 2028 that caused mass protests in the country.
