On 25 May, Paul L. Vandoren, a former EU Ambassador to Croatia and former EU Ambassador to Russia said in an interview with Georgian Ilmedi TV that that the EU was likely to acknowledge Georgia’s progress made to the EU on the Eastern Partnership Summit on 18 June, adding that it is hard to say what terminology will be used to describe Georgia’s prospects for EU membership, reported agenda.ge. 

He said that during the previous Zagreb Summit, the EU refused to use the term of ‘enlargement’ in terms of the Western Balkan states. However, the EU expressed its commitment ‘to the European perspective of the Western Balkans.’ “If you put out a date, it will not work. It will only get people frustrated. Let’s see what the EU will say in June. It’s obvious, after the Western Balkans, Georgia will be there,” Vandoren stated. 

Vandoren also praised the recent decision of Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili ‘when she pardoned two opposition leaders’ (Caucasus Watch reported) describing it as a “brave step.” 

Two weeks earlier, on 12 May, Vandoren published an article in Euractiv, calling the for the EU to encourage and publicly recognize the efforts Georgia had made in a pursuit for EU membership. He also emphasized that the biggest obstacle to Georgia’s possible ascension in the EU is the fact that 20% of Georgia’s territory is occupied by Russia and that the two countries still have no diplomatic relations. He wrote that “Russia’s consistent cyberattacks and disinformation campaign are deliberately designed to hold back the Georgian government’s push to become closer to Europe.”

On 11 May, the European Union (EU) Council approved the conclusions on the “Eastern Partnership policy beyond 2020” document which was adopted on 18 March 2020. The conclusions of the document firmly called for a renewed commitment to the fundamentals of the Eastern Partnership (EaP). These included democracy, human rights, rule of law, good governance, and successful anti-corruption policies, but also economic reforms, environmental, climate and energy challenges, digital transformation and investing in people. However, the document did not state the possibility of the EaP countries becoming potential EU members one day (Caucasus Watch reported).