European Council ready to grant Georgia candidate status once priorities addressed – Radio Liberty editor

The European Council is ready to grant the status of candidate country to Georgia once the priorities specified in the European Commission’s opinion on Georgia’s membership application have been addressed, Rikard Jozwiak, the Europe editor for RFE/RL tweeted on Tuesday, citing the draft of the European Council as the latter is scheduled to announce its decision on the candidate status of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia on June 24. 

Jozwiak suggested that the latest  draft stated that “the European Council has decided to grant the status of candidate country to Ukraine, to the Republic of Moldova.” It also noted that the Council would decide on further steps once all the conditions spelled out by the commission are fully met. 

The European Commission recommended the Council last week to grant the European  prospective and candidate status to Moldova and Ukraine, while Georgia only prospective and the candidate status only after several preconditions would be addressed.