Georgian FM laments ‘political games’ surrounding EU accession process

Georgian foreign minister Maka Botchorishvili on Monday said that, regrettably, following the country's application for EU membership, this critical process has been transformed into a lever for pressure and political games.

Addressing a panel on sovereignty and migration hosted by the Hungarian Parliament, Botchorishvili noted these circumstances lead the Georgian government to fight for sovereignty, as it was “existential”.

“First of all, it is very good to be here in this house, among the members of the parliament, as the former member of parliament, it is an honour to be here and discuss the very important topic, which is very, very relevant to my country. I represent the country, as you mentioned, which is not a member of the European Union yet, which is aspiring to be part of the European Union, and for a long time, I would say, which is aspiring to be part of the European family for centuries and for decades to be part of the European Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, we are looking at European structures and the European Union as the best safeguard for our sovereignty”, she said.

The FM further recalled that Georgia signed the Association Agreement with the EU in 2014 and formally applied for membership in 2022.

“That’s how we see and that’s how we want to see the European Union. That's why we applied for EU membership, that’s why we signed the Association Agreement back in 2014 with the European Union. Georgia is the country which shares the European values which is very organic for Georgia. But since we applied for EU membership in 2022, we also had a moment when we had to fight for our sovereignty, because this was existential. When it comes to security, this is existential to follow the sovereign decisions to safeguard peace and security in our country, and economic growth”, the minister noted.

Botchorishvili further highlighted that Georgia was a country which had 9.5% economic growth per year at the moment, describing it as an impressive rate by European standards.

She noted that this growth was the result of a clear priority - safeguarding sovereignty - and stressed that the country must not compromise peace amid a highly complex geopolitical environment.

“You all remember that 20% of Georgia still remains under Russian occupation, and that creates existential threats to Georgia. And for Georgia, it is especially important to be very careful and be very cautious when it comes to this or that decision”, the FM said.

“Unfortunately, after applying for EU membership, we have seen that this very important topic - which is crucial for Georgia and for around 90% of Georgians who support the European idea - has been turned into a tool for pressure and political games, and for foreign influence and interference into domestic affairs, which should be not acceptable for anybody, and we see increasingly that this is not the issue only outside of the European Union, but inside the European Union and inside the EU member states, that it is kind of a common thing. We need to look at what kind of Europe we want to live in”, Botchorishvili continued.

She expressed the belief that she belonged to the European space and shared the concerns regarding the EU and its future, noting that there can be no European future without unity among all countries built on the core principles established decades, if not centuries, ago.

“I do believe that I belong to this part of the world, and I do share the concerns that you all have about the EU and the European future, because I do believe that there is no European future without all the countries united and sharing that very core of the unity that's created decades or maybe centuries ago”, the FM said.

“And it is important to look at the sovereignty issue very seriously, because still this is the only solution for the future of Europe to safeguard sovereign decisions and sovereignty of the countries and build on that”, she concluded.