Agency Report
Georgia officially applied for European Union membership on Thursday, its prime minister said, after the European Parliament expressed backing for a similar move by war-torn Ukraine.
“We are applying today for EU membership,” Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said after signing the application letter.
“Georgia is a European state and continues to make a valuable contribution to its protection and development,” he added.
“History has deemed the European choice of the Georgian people as its strategic aim.”
Georgia’s ruling party faced strong pressure from the opposition to follow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s move to apply for EU membership — a bid which won backing from MEPs in a non-binding resolution.
Zelensky’s decision to seek fast-track EU membership came shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin last week ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The MEP vote on Ukraine was largely seen in Georgia as a window of opportunity to advance its own EU aspirations — a goal enshrined in the Black Sea nation’s constitution.
Last year, Georgia announced its intention to apply for EU membership in 2024.
The government has faced mounting international criticism over perceived backsliding on democracy, seriously damaging Tbilisi’s relations with Brussels.
– Kremlin’s possible target –
The war in Ukraine also strengthened the West’s focus on Georgia and Moldova, another ex-Soviet republic seeking EU membership.
The West has expressed concerns that these countries risked becoming possible targets for the Kremlin after Ukraine.
“We stand with Moldova and Georgia to defend their sovereignty and security,” French President Emmanuel Macron said last week, while his Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said France was “worried” about a possible Russian military offensive against Georgia and Moldova.
Last week, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili was in Paris and Brussels to argue for Europe’s commitments to Ukraine being extended to Georgia.
Even if granted candidate status however, Georgia and Ukraine will face a protracted and complex accession process.
They would have to implement sweeping reforms to comply with the 27-nation bloc’s political and economic standards.
Georgia’s and Ukraine’s efforts to have closer ties with the West have long angered Russia.
Tensions with Moscow culminated in Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008.
Georgia and Ukraine have both signed association agreements with the EU designed to bring them closer together economically and politically.
The agreements also include free trade deals between the countries and the EU as well as visa-free travel for its nationals for a short stay in the Schengen area.
But they give no guarantee of eventual membership.
