Foreign Minister Darchiashvili Pays Working Visit to Brussels
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Friday, June 3, 2022
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Ilia Darchiashvili paid a working visit to Brussels on June 1-2. During the visit, Ilia Darchiashvili held parallel meetings with the European Commissioners and Members of the European Parliament.
During his meeting with EU Commissioners Adina Valean (Transport), Virginijus Sinkevicius (Environment), Janez Lenarcic (Crisis Management), Johannes Hahn (Budget and Administration), and Janusz Wojciechowski (Agriculture) the sides focused on the current priorities and current directions of Georgia-EU cooperation, reforms in the country in terms of approximation to EU standards, as well as the dynamic process of implementation of the Association Agreement.
The meeting with Valean highlighted the important role of Georgia as a regional transport and logistics hub connecting Europe and Asia. The parties agreed to continue working on common priorities in the context of the EU Connectivity Strategy.
At the meeting with the European Commissioner for Agriculture, special emphasis was placed on the implementation of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, which played an important role in increasing trade turnover between Georgia and the EU. The parties discussed the country's export potential.
Darchiashvili also held a meeting with Chairwoman of the Georgia-EU Parliamentary Committee Marina Kaljurand and Sven Mikser, Rapporteur on Georgia.
At the meetings special attention was paid to the Association Agenda, reforms, and recent developments, as well as Georgia's application for EU membership and further steps, highlighting the new stage of relations between Georgia and the EU, which came after the country applied for membership at the beginning of March. It was noted how important it is to reflect Georgia's progress on the path to European integration in relevant EU decisions and future plans.
Georgian Foreign Minister underlined the high level of mobilization of institutional capacity by the government, as a result of which Georgia successfully completed and submitted a self-assessment questionnaire to the European Commission ahead of schedule. Darchiashvili reaffirmed to the MEPs the country's commitment to the course of reforms and noted the readiness of the government to do even more on the path to EU integration to meet the criteria required for membership in the Union.
The high-priority issue discussed at the meeting was the impact of the ongoing war in Ukraine on regional security and the challenges facing Georgia. The important role of the European Parliament in the European integration process of Georgia as well as the support of the European Parliament in the process of overcoming the security challenges facing Georgia was emphasized.
"We also discussed the planned meeting of the EU Council, at which a decision will be made on the application for candidate status of Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova. We discussed political polarization within the country and that all political actors need to work together constructively to advance Georgia's legitimate aspirations for European integration, shared by the vast majority of the Georgian population.” Mikser said adding that politicians need to forget their own antagonism and find statehood to work towards these goals.
“Will Georgia accept candidate status with different specific requirements? The EU has expressed at a very high political level its expectations for the important reforms presented in the agreement, mediated and promoted by the President of the European Council. Here's what needs to be done that requires constructive collaboration between actors. “
According to MEP, the war has radically changed the situation in the region, which is a political factor that might influence the decision. Otherwise, the decision would be based only on individual reforms, and technical requirements.
In her comments to the media, Kaljurand said that she doesn’t see a strong desire in the corridors and discussions of the European Parliament for the Eastern Partnership countries to be granted membership or even candidate status. According to her Ukraine might be in a privileged position because of the war but noted that it was a political issue that needed a political approach.
“I also want to be very clear and sincere, the application for membership would not be on the table now, if there was no war in Ukraine, neither for Ukraine nor for Georgia and Moldova. This is a political decision and political decisions are not always fair. This is a political decision that needs consensus in the EU to grant candidate status.” She said calling on Georgian politicians to forget about polarization, and their party interests, to pay attention to the reforms that are being implemented now, and to be united, to work together.
