EU candidate status important politically, not economically – ruling party head

Georgia’s receiving the European Union membership candidate status will be a “strong message” politically, but it will bring “no economic benefits”, Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party told Rustavi 2 channel on Thursday. 

He stressed the Georgian public had been “already well-aware” that the country would lose “no financial aid” if the bloc refused to grant the status to the country later this year. 

Kobakhidze reiterated the European Commission’s “positive report” released earlier this month on the country’s alignment with the EU laws had “confirmed” that the European Council’s last year refusal to grant the status to Georgia was “unfair” and “politically grounded”. 

In June the Council granted the status to Ukraine and Moldova, while Georgia received European perspective and a set of conditions to meet to obtain candidacy.