Archil Talakvadze, the vice speaker of the Georgian parliament, on Tuesday accused the members of “radical” domestic opposition groups of telling a “lie” that Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, had canceled a press briefing with the Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili following a meeting with him in Brussels earlier that day. 

In his comments, Talakvadze claimed no press conference had been planned and that part of the country’s opposition was “saddened” by Georgia’s success on its Euro-Atlantic path.  

"The PM has had a high-level visit and meetings with partners, which will help Georgia to advance the important work of our country's European and Euro-Atlantic integration. Of course, as always, the radical opposition is not happy and saddened by the country's foreign and domestic successes. They have no real agenda, no future plans, and are busy damaging their own country and spreading lies”, said the lawmaker. 

Garibashvili discussed his country’s  European prospects ahead of the Council decision whether to grant Georgia the  European Union membership candidate status by the end of this year, before his meeting with NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg in the alliance headquarters, the government press office said.