David McAllister, a European Parliament member, on Thursday, said: “Georgia is part of Europe. Georgia belongs to Europe.”

In his address to European Parliament, MEP McAllister noted that “to be granted EU candidate status, Georgia needs to successfully address the 12 key priorities indicated by the Commission.”

He stated that Georgia’s bid for membership will be assessed “based on its own merits and its success in implementing necessary reforms.”

However, he mentioned that “unfortunately, political situation hampers the country’s development.”

In this context, McAllister made five remarks:

“First, political stakeholders need to refrain from any divisive and aggressive rhetoric and unite the forces in order to increase the trust among all political and institutional actors;

Second, the excessive influence and vested interest in economic, political and public life needs to be eliminated;

Third, Georgian authorities need to ensure media freedom, this entails editorial independence, transparent media ownership and pluralistic, impartial, non-discriminatory coverage of political views;

Fourth, political leaders in Georgia must stop aggressive verbal attacks against the members of the European Parliament and representatives of other partner countries;

And finally, and this is also personal for me, I call on the Georgian authorities, please, please, release former [Georgian] President [Mikheil] Saakashvili and allow him to undergo proper medical treatment.”