Ruling party sec-gen doesn’t rule out “political decision” on Georgia’s EU candidacy

Kakha Kaladze, the secretary general of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said he did not rule out a “repeated political decision” on the country’s European Union membership candidate status later this year. 

“What decision will be made does not depend on us. I do not rule out that they [the EU] will make a political decision again and not grant us the status, nor do I rule it out based on the current reality”, he said. 

He stressed the Georgian  authorities had taken actions to meet all the 12-point conditions set by the bloc in June for granting the status to the country, but noted the fulfillment of several conditions, including the repolarization of the current political environment, would be unlikely without the opposition’s engagement. 

Georgia applied for EU membership in March 2022, following Ukraine and Moldova, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

In June of the last year, the bloc granted candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova with conditions and Georgia European perspective with conditions. 

Tbilisi claimed the June decision was “political”, dictated by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, as Georgia was “far ahead” of the duo in a number of directions.