Georgia is facing a choice on its path to EU membership Status and recommendations on the agenda

EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrel will visit Tbilisi this week. This time he has a particularly important mission to discuss aspects of Georgia's European integration. Meanwhile, everything that concerns this issue is a priority for Georgian foreign policy and has been promoted almost since Georgia's independence.

But, as we know, it is easier said than done. So, despite Georgia's many ties with Europe and even NATO that have emerged over more than a quarter of a century and its fulfillment of a series of European and American requirements, Tbilisi received the questionnaires (necessary for granting the status of a candidate for admission to the EU) only in March 2022. However, Georgia submitted its application only shortly before that. At the same time, Moldova and Ukraine also applied for admission to the EU. And only four months later, i.e. in June, the EU countries recognised Moldova and Ukraine as candidates for EU membership. Georgia was left behind... Moreover, the European Commission presented Tbilisi with a list of 12 criteria without which it is impossible to move towards European integration.

A year has passed since then. All this time Georgia was waiting for some concrete steps from Brussels as a sign that by the end of this year the country would receive the status of a candidate for EU accession. For example, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili hinted about it to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at their June meeting in Tbilisi, and in August claims about Brussels' silence were voiced at a meeting of the Georgian parliament by its chairman Shalva Papuashvili.

It should be noted, however, that joining the big European family, in addition to certain political and economic benefits, promises Georgia a certain prestige on the world stage. Therefore, it will most likely have to make some concrete concessions to the West, especially in the current unstable geopolitical situation. Taking this into account, some Georgian politicians believe that Georgia may get involved in a big political game, which it does not really need.

But despite everything, the country seems to be firmly convinced of its integration choice and is reacting quite emotionally to Brussels' dragging out the candidate status for Georgia. Thus, a couple of months ago, the general secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party, Tbilisi mayor Kakha Kaladze accused the EU of dragging out this issue in an interview with the Imedi TV channel.

"Some EU representatives are constantly trying to come up with new pretexts to deny candidate status, which is very disappointing and such an attitude is categorically unacceptable," Kaladze said.

Nevertheless, Prime Minister Garibashvili stated unequivocally during the World Government Summit in Dubai this winter that Georgia is even more eager to join the European Union and NATO.

Georgian President Salome Garibashvili was also very critical of the EU's incomprehensible delay in dealing with Tbilisi, calling on Europe not to waste time and to grant the country candidate status.

Josep Borrell is to visit Tbilisi. This is clearly a positive sign, so with cautious optimism, we can assume that after the meetings of the European diplomat with representatives of the highest echelons of the Georgian government there may be some clarity in this very painful issue for Tbilisi. Of course, if mutual agreements or preconditions are reached. For example, regarding Georgia's policy towards Russia. It seems that this is one of the key conditions of the EU, which Borrel will surely discuss with the Georgian leadership.

It is probably needless to say that the relative warming of Georgian-Russian relations, which has been observed recently, causes discontent and irritation in the West, especially since the Georgian-European dialogue is already aggravated by the neutrality that Tbilisi adheres to in relation to the Russian war in Ukraine. On the other hand, the fact that at the June meeting in Tbilisi of high-ranking representatives of the US, UK, and EU with the Georgian authorities they discussed Western sanctions and the prevention of the entry of sub-sanctioned products into Russia via Georgia shows that the West has become quite wary of Georgia.

It is not at all coincidental that the visit to Georgia by key Western figures dealing with anti-Russian sanctions followed immediately after the adoption by the EU of the 11th package of sanctions. Moreover, for the first time the possibility of imposing restrictions on the supply and export of goods to third countries in the event of a high risk of these countries being used to circumvent the sanctions was announced. Here is one more important nuance. The June oral report of the European Commission on Georgia indicates that the country has implemented only 3 out of 12 recommendations (election of the Ombudsman, gender equality issues, and implementation of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights), and for the other 8, as the EU believes, there is only partial progress (de-oligarchisation, fight against corruption, judicial reform, etc.), one is not implemented at all.

In other words, the EU is not fully satisfied with Georgia's progress in the European direction. Tbilisi does not agree with such a minimal assessment. It is indicative that in this connection the speaker of the Georgian parliament Papuashvili himself stated that lawmakers have already adopted 82 laws in order to fulfil all recommendations of the European Union. Prime Minister Garibashvili claimed that Tbilisi had fulfilled 11 out of 12 EU recommendations and promised that the government would not delay with the 12th condition of the European Council.

There are, however, people in Georgia who believe that the prospects for Georgia's accession to the European Union are rather vague. This is, for example, former Minister of Education and Science and head of the Caucasus Peace Institute Gia Nodia.

"It is difficult to say unequivocally whether Georgia will be awarded the status of an EU candidate, as the country has not implemented the 12 recommendations of this organisation, presented back in June last year. This is, first of all. Secondly, I do not know what Borrel will say to the Georgian leadership, but it is clear that the purpose of his visit is to discuss this very issue. Thirdly, I am inclined to the opinion of some analysts that Georgia has a chance to get the status, although it is possible that based on the EU recommendations it may not happen," Nodia told Caliber.Az, adding that in case of obtaining the status for future EU membership, it will not negatively affect Russian-Georgian relations, which are clearly warming.