The Georgian government, led by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, is already preparing an application for EU candidate status under hastened procedure, which will be officially submitted to the EU structures on behalf of the Georgian government tomorrow, - Irakli Kobakhidze, chairman of the Georgian Dream, stated at the press conference held at the central office of the Georgian Dream.

According to him, the EU structures are called upon to consider the application in an emergency mode and make a decision on granting Georgia the status of an EU candidate.

"The opposition, which ironically assessed our ambitious program plan to apply for EU membership in 2024 and receive EU candidate status, has today created an artificial noise around this issue.

This noise also has the sole purpose of linking the application to the imposition of sanctions and Georgia's involvement in the armed conflict. We emphasize once again that the imposition of sanctions and the involvement of Georgia in any form of military conflict will have the worst consequences for our country and the people of Georgia.

Linking the EU membership candidate status with sanctions or participation in the hostilities is categorically unacceptable to us. On the contrary, no one in the EU needs an economically weak or vulnerable country. The country, aggravated by sanctions and war, would completely lose the prospect of joining the European Union.

Submitting an application in 2024, backed by new reforms, as envisaged by the Georgian Dream election program, would have had many advantages over a hasty application. However, given the general political context and the new reality, after consultations with members of the party's political board and, first of all, with the Prime Minister, the Georgian Dream's political team made a political decision to apply for EU membership urgently.

The Georgian government, led by Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili, is already preparing an application for EU candidate status, which will be officially submitted to the EU structures on behalf of the Georgian government tomorrow.

We call on the EU structures to consider our application in an emergency mode and make a decision on granting Georgia the status of an EU candidate.

Our dream and political goal is for Georgia to become an economically strong and secure European country. Every step of our government, including our current decision, serves this purpose.

Over the past years, our government has had a number of impressive achievements on its path to EU integration. We signed the Association Agreement and the Free Trade Agreement with the European Union, we adopted a visa-free regime. We defined EU integration as a constitutional task. We implemented many reforms that brought the country closer to EU standards. Georgian Dream has announced application for EU membership until 2024 as the main goal of its 2020 election program. A logical continuation of this effort is our current decision to submit an application urgently and obtain candidate status”, said Kobakhidze.