“Today, we are celebrating. I am really proud. Congratulations to Georgia because you deserved it,” said Gitanas Nausėda, President of Lithuania.

President Nauseda said the way Georgian people celebrate EU candidate status in Tbilisi streets made him feel good.

“It’s an amazing political process. Yesterday, we were talking about the obstacles on the path towards positive decisions regarding Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. Today, we are celebrating. I am really proud. I am proud to be European, and it was necessary to send this political signal to our friends in Ukraine especially because the country is at war. I had the opportunity to call and communicate with President Zelenskiy. I said to them: You guys, you deserved this decision. You were putting so much effort into implementing the necessary reforms. And you are rewarded. Of course, this is only the first page of a very long process but in order to go further you need to open the first page. It is like you are reading the book.

And they hope very much that despite these obstacles, despite this bloody war, Ukraine will succeed and Ukraine will be Europe. Because in my thoughts, Ukrainians today are Europe, defending our freedom, defending our democratic principles. As a representative of Lithuania, the country which suffered a lot because of the Soviet occupation, it was a really very tough period for us to enter the European Union and NATO.

But now, we would like to share our experience in this field, and we will do it for certain. So let’s celebrate! Congratulations to Georgia because you deserved it too. I know what was the reaction in the streets. I was following what was happening in the streets of Tbilisi. Really, just a very good feeling! Let me celebrate in my heart!,” he said.

On December 14, the European Council opened EU accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova and granted EU candidate status to Georgia.