“Now the European Union is actually our region,” stated Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during his address in the parliament on February 7. According to Pashinyan the fact that Georgia received the status of a candidate for EU membership, which has an objective impact on the whole region.
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“The world today, the global world in general, is not what it was 5 or 6 years ago. In fact, our relations with any entity are not the same as before. The nature of those relations has also changed.
Our region has also changed. Many significant realities have changed in our region, and one of those realities is the fact that Georgia has received the status of a candidate for EU membership, which has an objective impact on our region. It turns out that two of our neighboring countries have the status of a candidate for EU membership, and if before it was possible to say, where is the EU, where is our region, now the EU is actually our region, and we are aware of this fact. We have to relate with, and in that regard, I also attach great importance to the start of a strategic dialogue with Georgia”,said Nikol Pashynian.
A few weeks earlier, during Nikol Pashinyan's visit to Tbilisi, a declaration on strategic partnership between Georgia and Armenia was signed. During the joint briefing with the then Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Gharibashvili, Pashinyan remarked that obtaining EU candidate status is a historic milestone for Georgia, as well as the entire region.
Georgia acquired the status of a candidate country for the European Union in December 2023 with the commitment that the country will undertake measures in 9 areas.
The European Union urges Georgia to combat disinformation, foreign information manipulation, and interference regarding its values; enhance alignment of Georgia's foreign policy with the EU's common foreign and security policy; tackle political polarization; ensure a free, fair, and competitive electoral process, especially in 2024; enhance parliamentary oversight; undertake judicial reform; ensure the effectiveness, independence, and impartiality of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Special Investigation Service, and the Personal Data Protection Service; enhance the existing action plan on deoligarchization; improve standards for protecting human rights.
Fulfillment of these conditions is imperative to proceed to the stage of commencing accession negotiations.
Another country in the region, Turkey, has been a candidate country for the EU since late 1999. The EU and Turkey commenced accession negotiations in October 2005, but the process has been at a standstill since June 2018 due to the deterioration of democracy, the rule of law, and the protection of fundamental rights in Turkey.
