Ruling party head: Georgia able to become EU member earlier than Ukraine, Moldova, by 2032-2034

Georgian Dream ruling party chair Irakli Kobakhidze said Wednesday that despite Ukraine and Moldova being granted EU candidate status earlier than Georgia, the latter had higher chances to become a member of the bloc considering its democratic progress and institutions.

Kobakhidze suggested that Ukraine was expected to become an EU member by 2050, citing MEPs and EU officials as saying, adding that the term for Moldova could be the same.

“In all aspects, Ukraine and Moldova are far behind Georgia. This, among others, concerns, democracy, constitutional system, protection of human rights, fight against corruption, economic environment, foreign trade… We are far ahead of both states in all these directions,” Kobakhidze said.

He stated that per the general practice, for the countries which met the majority of criteria for membership, it took about 12-14 years to be accepted to the bloc after receiving the candidate status.

“Thus, we have the prospect that if we receive the candidate status in December, we may become a member state of the European Union somewhere in 2032-2034. Of course, we should hope that it will happen sooner, but the term is the general practice,” Kobakhidze said.

He claimed that Georgia was able to address all the 12 priorities set by the European Commission for the candidate status, and “if the EU made the decision based on deeds and not a political decision” by the end of the year, Georgia would receive the status.

Kobakhidze said that the country’s “radical opposition” were interested in Georgia not to receive the status as “they see it as a chance to spark tension in the county.”