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Georgian Dream Chair: “If Not This Year, Georgia Will Be a Candidate Next Year”
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Relations between Georgia and the European Union have intensified in recent days. After Georgia was not granted the status of a candidate for the European Union, there were two large rallies in the country. Although the opposition and the president blamed Garibashvili's government, the ruling party denied the allegations.
Irakli Kobakhidze, chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, stated on June 27 that if Georgia does not become a candidate for EU membership this year, it will become a candidate the following year, whenever that may be. Kobakhidze said that it takes at least 15 years to join the EU, based on what Balkan countries have done.
"We have a specific agenda, which includes the Association Agreement, which we have completed to the extent of 45 percent. In two years, this proportion will reach 70 percent, and in a few years, it will reach 100 percent, "Kobakhidze predicted. In addition, the chair of the ruling party announced that the political council of the ruling party would meet soon to announce how the government would move forward with the objectives established by the European Council and the Commission for Georgia to obtain candidate status.
Moreover, according to Kobakhidze, Bidzina Ivanishvili was not included in the discussion of de-oligarchization that the EU recommended changing. Instead, he asserted, Mikheil Saakashvili, currently incarcerated but politically active, as well as former defence minister David Kezerashvili, Lelo party leaders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, qualify as oligarchs.
Additionally, in response to pro-EU protesters' demands that Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili resign to make way for the technical interim administration, Kobakhidze stated that the government would not permit demonstrators to deviate from the Constitution's logic. He asserted that legitimacy has been granted to the Georgian Dream to govern the nation through the 2020 national and 2021 local elections.
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