It is a lie that the Georgian Dream unilaterally suspended the European integration process until 2028 - the Georgian Dream has never suspended the European integration process! The political dialogue with Georgia was suspended in 2024 by a decision of Brussels, not the Georgian Dream, - this statement was made in the Parliament by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Maka Botchorishvili, who is answering questions from the For Georgia faction by interpellation.

Botchorishvili also stated that as a result of the consistent policy of the Georgian Dream government, we can boldly say that today Georgia is much closer to European standards in various directions than other candidate countries.

Botchorishvili says that it is precisely as a result of the Georgian Dream's rule that Georgia is a more democratic and qualitatively different state today than it was in 2012.

“Since 2014, Georgia, as an associated partner country of the European Union, has achieved visible progress in all directions, thanks to the efforts of the Georgian Dream government, which the very critical European bureaucracy itself found difficult to deny and had to recognize this progress in 2023, when, with an unfair delay of a year and a half, it granted our country candidate status based on its own reports and conclusions.

Georgia’s progress, behind which the Georgian Dream government stands, is evidenced by all the reports of the European Commission, which were prepared in Brussels.

The political dialogue with Georgia was suspended in 2024 by the decision of Brussels, not by the Georgian Dream.

We would like to remind you of how on July 9, 2024, the EU Ambassador to Georgia, Mr. Pawel Herczynski, explained to us the decision of the European Council of June 27, 2024. He stated that the EU had made a decision to suspend Georgia's EU accession process: - "Unfortunately, Georgia's EU accession process is currently on hold - this was decided by the EU leaders at the last meeting of the European Council."

EU membership for us, for the vast majority of Georgian citizens, is an aspiration based on our history, culture, and identity, which aims to create the best guarantees for the security and well-being of our country.

It is clear to us and to the majority of our society what the statements, threats, and blackmail about Georgia's European perspective, candidate status, or EU membership served and serve.

Constant manipulation of these issues only harms the process, an important issue for us.

That is why on November 28, 2024, the Georgian government stated that “we will not allow anyone to leave us in a regime of constant blackmail and manipulation, which is completely offensive to our country and society.”

We would like to remind you that in the same statement, the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze, unequivocally stated that “our state goal is for Georgia to become a member state of the European Union in 2030, for which we will spare no effort. By 2030, Georgia will be readier than all candidate countries to join the European Union”.

Here is the explanation: “The opening of negotiations is being used today as an instrument of blackmailing our country and dividing society in exactly the same way as the candidate status was used before. The main thing is not when we open the negotiations, but when we close them. The end of 2028 is the time when Georgia will be economically properly prepared to open negotiations for joining the European Union in 2030”.

Here we would like to remind you that the decision to open negotiations with a candidate country is made by the Council of the European Union, not the candidate country”, - Maka Botchorishvili stated.