EU Council ready to grant Georgia candidate status once priorities met, as Ukraine, Moldova receive the status

The European Council President Charles Michel claims that the Council is ready to grant Georgia the EU candidate status once the priorities set by the European Commission earlier this month are addressed. 

The statement came shortly after the EU Council granted candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova late on June 23, while Georgia only had a European perspective. 

“Today, we have decided to grant candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova. And we are ready to grant candidate status to Georgia once priorities will be addressed. I congratulate the Georgian people. This is a historic moment in EU-Georgia relations: Georgia’s future lies in the EU,” Michel tweeted. 

The European Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis  tweeted that “Georgia has achieved great success on the European path, as the Council of the European Union confirmed today.”

“We fully recognize and support its European aspirations and are ready to be a guide on Georgia’s reform agenda to bring the country closer to the European family,” he said.

Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili called the decision “historic” and pledged that the government was ready “ to implement all priorities in order to get the candidate status soon.”