EU ambassador urges Georgian politicians not to underestimate importance of European perspective

Pawel Herczynski, the European Union ambassador to Georgia, on Thursday urged Georgian politicians not to underestimate the importance of a European perspective the bloc granted Georgia last year following its membership application. 

 

He stressed those familiar with the EU’s “long and cumbersome enlargement policy” knew “what a major breakthrough” it was for Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova to be the part of the enlargement policy, in his speech at the conference in Tbilisi titled New Security Architecture in Europe and its Impact on Georgia: One Year Since European Perspective.

 

In his remarks, the diplomat said the EU and Georgia shared the common vision of a peaceful and prosperous South Caucasus region, and that Tbilisi remained “one of the closest and most important partners of the EU in the region”. 

 

“In current times, where the security context has radically changed, the EU reiterates its firm commitment to support Georgia to achieve peaceful conflict resolution, as well as to contribute to the stabilisation of the whole region. To this end, the EU has continued to step up its support in strengthening Georgia’s resilience”, said the ambassador. 

 

He highlighted the bloc also stated its readiness to grant Georgia its candidate status once key priorities outlined by it last year along with the European perspective were addressed. 

 

The Georgian Dream authorities have many times said obtaining the European perspective was a “historic”, but not a “fair, and a merit-based” decision, claiming Georgia was “far-ahead” of both Ukraine and Moldova with its level of democracy, which,  unlike Georgia, were granted full candidacy with conditions last June.