Georgian Parliament Speaker: Brussels’ position on EU enlargement remains unclear, new conditions risk becoming unacceptable for candidates

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Wednesday said that the more he communicates with representatives of EU member states and candidate countries, the less clear Brussels’ current stance on enlargement becomes, warning that new conditions being introduced may prove unacceptable for aspiring members.

Speaking to journalists in Serbia, Papuashvili shared impressions from discussions on the EU enlargement process.

“In general, it is a very difficult issue and the more communication I have with representatives of both EU member states and candidate countries, the more unclear it becomes where Brussels stands today on the path of EU enlargement”, he said.

The Speaker noted that the promises made in 2022 about the EU’s geopolitical shift toward enlargement appear to have been hasty for some countries.

“The impression is created that in 2022, on the third day after the start of the war, the abundantly given promises that the EU has reconsidered its geopolitical role and has now switched to an enlargement strategy - the impression is created that for some countries these statements were hasty, and now there is an attempt to either bypass this condition on the path of enlargement or to put forward new conditions - putting forward such conditions that may be unacceptable for candidate countries for membership. So, these obstacles and difficulties that Georgia feels are nothing new in this, and these two days confirmed this for me”, Papuashvili noted.

He highlighted that similar obstacles exist for almost all candidate countries.

“Almost all candidate countries have similar challenges. Sometimes there is a member state that has its own personal political agenda regarding a particular country. Sometimes there is Brussels, which has its own attitudes that do not stem from either the accession procedures or the Copenhagen principles, but are newly invented, additional criteria or preconditions that serve only the political agendas of various countries”, he said.

Papuashvili stressed the importance of unity and information exchange among candidate countries, as each faces unequal negotiations with member states holding veto power.

“Therefore, it is important that in this regard we are united, since separately in this relationship we are not equal, when we are dealing with EU member states, each of which has the right of veto and can block any progress. Therefore, our unity and exchange of information is important”, Papuashvili concluded.

He also mentioned Serbia’s wait for the opening of the third cluster in accession talks, noting the European Commission’s positive assessments contrasted with opposition from countries like the Netherlands.