General documents - Statement by the chair of DSCA Delegation, MEP Marina KALJURAND on the 11th meeting of the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee - Delegation to the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Partnership Committee, the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee

on the 11th meeting of the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee

Tbilisi, 21 September 2022 - "The European Parliament and the Parliament of Georgia held the eleventh meeting of their Parliamentary Association Committee (PAC) today in Tbilisi.

This meeting took place in the aftermath of the European Council's decision of 23 June to recognise Georgia's European perspective. As Chair of the EP Delegation for relations with the South Caucasus and Co-Chair of the EU-Georgia PAC, I welcomed wholeheartedly this historic milestone in EU-Georgia relations. I called to seize the unique momentum and do the utmost to address the twelve priorities specified in the Commission's Opinion on Georgia's application for EU membership so that Georgia can be recognised as a candidate country as soon as possible. Many of our Georgian friends were disappointed by the fact that their country, unlike Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, was not granted EU candidate status at this stage. I understand and share this disappointment. Yet, I would also like to stress that the window of opportunity is still open and that Georgia can fulfil its firm desire to receive EU candidate status and then EU membership in a longer perspective

The European Union is much more than an area of economic growth and prosperity, or a compass for technical, legal approximation - it is, above all, a community of values. Georgia has already achieved significant progress which must now be taken to the next level[...]