Kobakhidze: war a guarantor of a candidate status, but we won’t allow this to happen

If a war began in Georgia until December, when the European Council is scheduled to return to Georgia’s candidate status, the status would be guaranteed, head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Irakli Kobakhidze told Georgian Public Broadcaster on Wednesday.

He stated that the opposition would have imposed sanctions on Russia to push Georgia to the war.

“However, the current authorities will not allow this [war] to happen,” Kobakhidze said.

He stated that ending the war in Ukraine until December would also increase Georgia’s chances for the candidate status as “emotional background” would be removed.

“We should hope that the war in Ukraine will end at least by the end of December. May God protect us, and if we theoretically assume that the war starts in Georgia by the end of December, of course, we will be guaranteed the status of a candidate. However, such a status would be worth nothing to us.

“The opposition would be happy to do that, but we will not go for it under any circumstances. If the war in Ukraine ends before December, the emotional background will be removed. There was a certain emotional background, due to which Ukraine and Moldova were granted candidate status, but Georgia was not, and if the war in Ukraine ends before December, this emotional background will be absent,” Kobakhidze said.

Kobakhidze said that if the European Council refused to grant Georgia candidate status, it would further deepen polarization in Georgia.