The people of Georgia have said repeatedly what they want, and that is European Union membership, that is Western integration, that is a path toward a democratic future. You have already made great progress in building your democratic institutions that are needed for that, US Ambassador to Georgia, Kelly Degnan, told reporters on Friday.

As Kelly Degnan remarked, the energy now should be directed into fulfilling the recommendations outlined by the European Commission.

“Where I think the energy should be going right now is into fulfilling the recommendations set forth by the European Commission, because the Commission has made it clear: as soon as those recommendations are fulfilled in a meaningful way, not in a superficial way, not in a one-party approach way, but in a meaningful, inclusive way, then Georgia will have candidate status as well. There’s no time to lose. There are already some very good proposals put forward by various opposition parties, by GD, by civil society. In civil society’s proposal, 22 organizations sat down and made a concrete action plan for steps to take it. There’s no question about what needs to be done. The leaders in society have been talking about this for as long as I’ve been here, certainly in the last year. There’s a very clear roadmap, and Georgia’s leaders have already agreed to most of these reforms. It is now a matter of doing it. It’s action, not words, not working groups, but action to move: to fulfill these 12 points and get Georgia candidate status. It’s there waiting for you, but you need to do the work,” Ambassador Degnan stated.