Kobakhidze: geographical location also prevented Georgia from receiving candidate status, EU’s decision “political”

The ruling Georgian Dream party head Irakli Kobakhidze stated on Friday that the geographical location also prevented Georgia from receiving candidate status, responding to the recommendation of the European Commission today to grant the candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, while Georgia must meet certain recommendations first. 

Kobakhidze suggested that the recommendation to give Georgia a European perspective “is a merit of the current Georgian government and a step forward.” 

“We congratulate both Ukraine and Moldova on their EU candidate status, which will be finally confirmed by the EU Council in a week. As for the decision over Georgia, Georgia has been waiting for the official recognition of the European perspective by the EU for many years. We are glad that today this perspective was officially recognized by the European Commission and it offered a concrete roadmap to gain the status,” Kobakhidze stated. 

He suggested that European leaders had indicated that geographical location also prevented Georgia from receiving candidate status. 

“I hope that the geographical factor will no longer be a reason for delaying the granting of candidate or member status to Georgia in the future,” Kobakhidze said. 

He stated that Georgia has already taken a step for “de-oligarchization” by arresting the country’s former President Mikheil Saakashvili. 

“Saakashvili is one of the well-known oligarchs and we would like to remind you that he is in prison today and a concrete step towards de-oligarchization has already been taken. We will do everything to free the country from oligarchs,” Kobakhidze said. 

He suggested that the EU “did not  refer to” Bidzina Ivanishvili [founder of the ruling party] when it called for taking steps against oligarchization.

Kobakhidze stated that the European Commission decision was more political than based on merits. 

“Today we heard the statement of one of the European leaders that under normal circumstances Ukraine would not have received the status of a candidate and it would receive the status because of the war,” Kobakhidze stated. 

He said that the EU has turned a blind eye to Moldova’s military-political neutrality and even its membership in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) amid difficulties, and has granted it candidate status.

“However, we also understand that the European Commission and the European Council are making a political decision, not based on merits. Consequently, in the current non-ordinary political situation, the decision of the European Commission has its logical political explanation,” Kobakhidze said. 

The opposition has accused the authorities of “losing the historic chance the country  to receive the candidate status.”