Civil Georgia
May 21, 2022

Opposition Leaders Visit Brussels as Georgia Eyes EU Candidacy

As the European Commission is expected to deliver its opinion on Georgia’s EU candidacy in late June, Georgian opposition politicians are frequenting Brussels with an overarching message that the country deserves membership perspective despite recent controversial steps by the Georgian Dream authorities.

“Despite wrongdoing by the Georgian Dream, their anti-European steps and completely insane statements, our country and our people should not lose the European perspective,” Lelo party secretary general Badri Japaridze said outside the European Commission’s Berlaymont building.

Japaridze, who traveled to Brussels with his party colleague MP Salome Samadashvili, Georgia’s former envoy to the European Union, noted that “our country and our people had deserved to return to the European family.”

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Lelo leaders were the latest Georgian opposition figures to travel to the EU capital, where they held meetings yesterday with representatives of the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, several key MEPs on EU-Georgian relations, as well as Steffen Elgersma of NATO’s Political Affairs and Security Division.