“Georgia received a European perspective on its European integration path, and no questions remain over the country’s European future, so much dreamed of and fought for by many generations,” said Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili.

During a speech at Georgia’s European Perspective public discussion in the Clingendael Institute of the Netherlands, the Speaker focused on regional processes, political, economic, social, and military issues amid Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the territorial conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and Europe’s new security architecture.

“Under changing and turbulent situations, Georgia manages to maintain foreign-policy goals,” Papuashvili said. He went on to explain specific measures Georgia implemented to demonstrate progress toward European integration.

“The granting of EU candidate status will provide additional impetus to Georgia as a young but rapidly emerging democracy, as well as encouragement for other nations in the region. The candidate status would reduce the efforts of malevolent actors such as Russia, which wishes to re-envelop our region in a geopolitical iron curtain,” Shalva Papuashvili stated.