Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili will on Wednesday meet with Charles Michel, the European Council president, in Belgium, the Council reported on Monday. 

Garibashvili will also hold other high-level, bilateral meetings while in Brussels and deliver a speech at the art festival Europalia, along with attending a ceremonial reception to mark Georgia’s Independence Day that was celebrated in Georgia on May 26. 

The visit comes ahead of the Council’s forthcoming decision by the end of this year whether to grant Georgia its membership candidate status, amid the Georgian government’s allegations to the bloc of making a “political decision” last June by granting Georgia only a European perspective and not its candidacy like in the case of Ukraine and Moldova. 

Garibashvili said last week all 12 conditions outlined by the Council last year for granting the status to Georgia would be met by the end of this month.