“It will be fair and right to treat Moldova and Georgia together, to give both countries the candidate status, but with conditionalities,” said MEP Marina Kaljurand ahead of the European Council’s June 24 meeting which would decide on the EU membership application of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova.

According to Marina Kaljurand, the present draft resolution supports the European Commission’s proposal. However, the issue is not yet 100%-decided since the European leaders have to make the judgment.

“The Council is a political institution. The Commission has its merit-based evaluation. But the Council will, of course, take into account the political aspects and the geopolitical situation. My personal position is that as the candidate status is being discussed because of the war in Ukraine, Ukraine needs to have special treatment.

Ukraine needs a very strong political statement, the candidate status without any question. This had to be done three months ago, and I am sorry they did not get it three months ago. But as for Georgia and Moldova, I think it will be fair and right to treat both countries together, to give both countries the candidate status, but with conditionalities,” the MEP 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.