“‘Georgian Dream’ has never suspended the European integration process! The political dialogue with Georgia was suspended in 2024 by Brussels’ decision,” stated Foreign Minister Maka Bochorishvili during an interpolation in parliament, answering questions from the “Gakharia – For Georgia” faction.
Bochorishvili also stated that thanks to the consistent policy of the “Georgian Dream” government, it can be safely said that today Georgia is significantly closer to European standards in many areas than other candidate countries.
“Since 2014, as an EU associate partner, Georgia has achieved noticeable progress in all directions precisely due to the efforts of the ‘Georgian Dream’ government. This progress was difficult to deny even for the highly critical European bureaucracy, which had to recognize it in 2023 when our country was granted candidate status after a one-and-a-half-year unfair delay…
The confirmation of Georgia’s progress, which is driven by the ‘Georgian Dream’ government, is found in all European Commission reports prepared and published in Brussels up until 2025.
The political dialogue with Georgia was suspended in 2024 by Brussels’ decision, not by ‘Georgian Dream’.
Let me remind you of July 9, 2024, and how the EU Ambassador to Georgia, Mr. Paweł Herczyński, explained the European Council’s decision of June 27, 2024. He stated that the EU had decided to suspend Georgia’s accession process: ‘Unfortunately, Georgia’s EU accession process is currently suspended – this was decided by EU leaders at the last European Council meeting.’
For us, the citizens of Georgia, and for the overwhelming majority of our society, joining the EU is an aspiration based on our history, culture, and identity, aimed at creating better guarantees for our country’s security and prosperity. It is obvious to us and to most of society what the statements, threats, and blackmail regarding Georgia’s European perspective, candidate status, and EU membership serve. Constant manipulation of these issues only harms a process that is important to us.
That is why on November 28, 2024, the Georgian government stated: ‘We will not allow anyone to keep us in a mode of constant blackmail and manipulation, which is completely insulting to our country and society.’
I also remind you that in the same statement, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze clearly noted: ‘Our state task is Georgia’s accession to the European Union in 2030, and we will spare no effort to achieve this. By 2030, Georgia will be more ready for EU membership than all other candidate countries.’
It was also explained: ‘The opening of negotiations today is being used exactly as candidate status was used before – as a tool for blackmail and dividing society. The main thing is not when we open the negotiations, but when we close them. The end of 2028 is the time when Georgia will be economically prepared enough to open accession negotiations with the EU in 2030.’
Let me remind you that the decision to open negotiations with a candidate country is made by the Council of the European Union, not by the candidate country itself,” Maka Bochorishvili stated.
