Parliament Committee Chair: Georgia as candidate country should be allowed to open negotiations with EU and thus advance integration process

European Union enlargement policy, achievements and challenges EU membership candidate countries, influence of geopolitical environment and matters related to the regional cooperation were discussed on Monday at the 20th Conference of the European Integration Parliamentary Committees of States participating in the South Eastern Europe Stabilisation and Association attended by the the Georgian delegation of the European Integration Committee of the Georgian Parliament, led by Maka Botchorishvili, the Chair of the Committee.

In her speech, Botchorishvili discussed the country’s progress in various directions in the process of associating with the European Union and the challenges facing the country as well as disinformation campaigns, which had created false perceptions about Georgia and had had a negative impact on the country’s European integration process.

“Georgia became a European Union candidate country last December. A vast majority of Georgians support Georgia’s European future. Last week, Georgia held parliamentary elections and more than 53 percent of Georgian voters made it very clear that they trust their European future to the ruling Georgian Dream party. Last week, the European Commission published an enlargement report. Compared to the previous assessment, Georgia showed different levels of progress in 25 out of 35 enlargement chapters. Contrary to many allegations and speculations, Georgia is progressing on the European path and still ahead of some [European Union] candidate countries in the fundamental rights chapter”, Botchorishvili said.

“In general, the progress that Georgia has achieved in the last 10 years, since the Association Agreement with the European Union was signed, is impressive and puts Georgia in a frontrunner's position in many directions. At the same time, we cannot neglect the massive misinformation campaigns related to Georgia that overshadow all the positive developments and create wrong perceptions. We have to take into account how misleading and dangerous it is. Dangerous because we are talking about a country that faces huge security challenges and keeping stability in the country is essential for our future”, she continued.

Botchorishvili also highlighted the security challenges facing the country, the geopolitical importance of Georgia in the context of European Union enlargement policy and the need to maintain security and stability in the South Caucasus region.

“Russian occupation and its military presence in two Georgian regions still remains the main security challenge. Georgia is not a member of NATO and does not enjoy any security arrangements. That definitely puts us in a very delicate situation, taking into account all the developments around our region. Indeed, we consider European integration as a peace project. And peace is essential for our future. We also note that the topic of European integration is increasingly used for polarisation in our politics and society, which is not helpful for the integration process itself”, Botchorishvili said.

“We are talking about a merit-based process, but this principle should not be used selectively. Georgia as a candidate country should be allowed to open negotiations with the EU and thus advance the integration process.I believe this is in our mutual interest. Only dialogue and cooperation is the best answer to all the challenges we need to overcome together”, she continued.

Botchorishvili also highlighted regional cooperation and connectivity issues as well as the country’s role and the importance of the Middle Corridor in terms of connecting Europe and Asia.