EC representative says Georgian political elite not to be rushed in attempts to depolarize their country

The European Council will not rush the Georgian political elite in their attempts to depolarize the country to come around the same table to thoroughly work on the reforms, said Michael Rupp, a representative of the European Commission at the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the European Parliament.

According to Michael Rupp, the EC will report back to the European Council on the priorities in the enlargement package in 2023. The EU candidate status will be granted to Georgia as soon as the priorities are addressed, he confirmed.

“Of course, the Russian aggression altered the geopolitical reality in Europe, and this has been debated widely. We are very happy that we have wide support for the European Commission’s approach to the region now when the Commission adopted our Opinion on the 17th of June. Thereafter, the Council followed our advice, and we are happy that the European Perspective has been granted and the candidate status will be granted to Georgia once our priorities will be addressed.

We are very interested that Georgia works hard, deep and thoroughly on these priorities. We have, therefore, careful deliberation that we should not rush the Georgian political elite in their attempts to depolarize the country to come around the same table to thoroughly work on the reforms. So, as the European Council asked us, we will report back on the priorities in the enlargement package in 2023. This will give the Georgian political system sufficient time to thoroughly work on these priorities. However, the work will not stop, and as my colleagues from EEAS outlined, we have a wide variety of engagement with Georgia,” he said.