PM reacts to “historic day” of submitting Georgia’s official application for EU membership

Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday reacted to the “historic day” of submitting Georgia’s official application for European Union membership on this day last year, shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

In his statement Garibashvili claimed “a new page of our history was turned; Soon after, the recognition of the European perspective of Georgia by the Council of the European Union brought us even closer to the membership of the European family of free nations”, in reference to the European Council decision in June to grant Georgia European perspective and Ukraine and Moldova the bloc’s membership candidate status. 

The PM said the EU enlargement “is a merit-based process and that is what gives us the greatest  hope”, ahead of the bloc’s decision later this year whether to grant the country its membership candidate status. 

The statement comes amid controversies related to the bills on foreign agents that are seen as a “Russian law” by the international community, calling on the Georgian parliament to drop it as a deterrent on the country’s European integration process.