“Georgia shares the same aspirations and potential as Ukraine and Moldova,” said Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, during the joint debate in preparation for the European Council meeting when it plans to finally decide on EU membership application of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova.

“With their applications, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia are telling us that they want the change. They want more democracy, they want more freedom and stronger reforms. They are telling us that they want Europe. And we have the responsibility toward them but we also have the responsibility towards ourselves, to make the right choices.

Georgia shares the same aspirations and potential as Ukraine and Moldova. Its application has strength in particular the market orientation on its economy with a strong private sector. To succeed, however, the country must come now together politically. It must design a clear path toward structural reforms and towards the European Union, the path that concretely sets out all the necessary reforms, brings civil society aboard and benefits from a broad political support.

This is why, we recommend the Council to grant Georgia the European perspective but to come back and assess how the country meets the number of conditions before granting it the candidate status.

How far, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia will come and how quicky they proceed will depend first and foremost on their actions and progress. It is a merit-based approach,” Ursula von der Leyen said.

On June 17, European Commission published a recommendation to greenlight EU candidate status for Ukraine and Moldova, while Georgia should meet certain conditions first. Until then, it benefits from a ‘European perspective.’ On June 23-24, the Georgian government will receive a response from the European Council to its application for EU membership, which the country has completed together with Ukraine and Moldova.