In December, Georgia made the historic achievement of receiving European Union candidate status. Now, the work needed to launch formal accession talks is well underway, with noteworthy progress coming to fruition.
Last week, Georgia’s Parliament engaged in wide-ranging discussions regarding the country’s bold agenda for meeting the nine requirements the EU established to begin accession negotiations. Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili noted that “our meeting today lasted over seven hours and I am glad indeed for having a constructive dialogue.” He went on to say that broad agreement was found on several key issues, and that work would continue to build consensus on remaining matters.
These talks come after Georgia has already made significant progress in implementing crucial internal reforms that bring the country in line with EU standards. In a show of support, the EU-Georgia Association Council stated this week that Georgia has carried out “significant reforms” in a “number of areas.” Echoing this support, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell noted that Georgia was doing “well” in its work to meet the EU’s nine conditions for accession, and stressed the EU’s “strong support” for the efforts’ eventual success.
Georgia remains steadfastly committed to carrying out the necessary reforms on a wide range of issues, such as banking reform, security policy, and election integrity, among others.