“It is a great honour to congratulate you on today’s historic decision. The European Commission positively assesses the achieved result and recommends to the European Council to grant Georgia the candidate status. It is a truly historic day! This is a historic decision of the European Commission,” said the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Garibashvili.

Georgia worked hard to get the result, Irakli Garibashvili pointed out.

“I would like to thank Ursula von der Leyen. I would especially like to thank European Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi, who is a great friend of our country. This period was emotionally charged because we did a lot of work. I would like to thank our united, strong team, the Parliament of Georgia, each member of our team, the Chairman of the Parliament, the Chairman of our party, each member of our team. This was the result of our joint work.

As you know, we have been working round the clock to implement 12 recommendations over the past year. Today, we saw a report that is unequivocally and, it must be said clearly, positive. This decision is based on the result achieved.

I would thank Charles Michel, who also supported and continues to support Georgia’s candidate status. I would also like to thank our strategic partner, the USA, since recently, I would especially like to mention that a month ago I had, so to speak, transformative and decisive meetings and conversations with American friends. I would highlight the meeting with Sullivan and thank him personally. We are well aware that the willingness and support, so to speak, of Sullivan and the US government was and is of great importance.

Once again, I would like to thank Ursula von der Leyen, with whom I had a very meaningful and, one might say, decisive meeting in Spain. As for us, if there was any recent need for clarification, our team addressed it together and efficiently. We have successfully addressed and closed almost all the recommendations provided by our European partners in a short time,” stated the Prime Minister.

The European Commission (EC) will recommend the European Council to grant candidate status to Georgia, said Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, at the briefing jointly held with Olivér Várhelyi, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement.

The European Council will make the final decision in December.