The European Council decided to grant Georgia the status of a candidate country for EU membership. Council President Charles Michel writes about this on X (formerly Twitter).
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In addition, the European Council decided to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova.
According to Charles Michel, the European Union will start negotiations with Bosnia-Herzegovina once the necessary degree of compliance with the membership criteria has been achieved and invited the Commission to prepare a relevant report for the said decision.
“This is a clear signal of hope for their people and for our continent,” Michel wrote.
With today's decision, the European Council heeded the recommendation issued by the European Commission on November 8. The recommendation was to grant Georgia the status on the condition that the government takes steps in 9 directions. At the same time, the European Commission recommended the start of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova.
Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova applied for EU membership in March 2022. Last year, the European Union granted Ukraine and Moldova the status of candidates for EU membership, and Georgia – ‘the European perspective’, and set 12 prerequisites for obtaining the candidate status.
In the report prepared by the commission in response to Georgia's application, among the priority conditions were ending political polarization, carrying out judicial reform, de-oligarchization, intensifying the fight against organized crime, ensuring media freedom, and more.
