Georgia hopes to become first Caucasian EU member state

Head of the Georgian Dream ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili gave his first interview in five years to the Georgian Public Broadcaster. In the autumn of 2013, he said that he quits politics and return only in the case of the "apocalyptic" scenario. Recently he returned, led the party again, dismissed Prime Minister Kvirikashvili along with his team and sharply turned the policy "left" - toward the  government's greater intervention in the economy, "limiting the power of banks that have eaten the savings of citizens" and raising the standard of living of citizens to the average European level.

Ivanishvili said that by "deepening democratic reforms" in terms of political pluralism and multi-party system, Georgia will be able to enlist the support of European democracies and join the EU by 2030! Perhaps the billionaire was encouraged by the statement of the European Parliament  Rapporteur, Andrejs Mamikins, who not just expressed his willingness to "see Georgia as a political part of the European Union in the future," speaking at the meeting with Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze, but specified that he spoke about "full membership of Georgia in the EU."

A small poor Caucasian country, which suffers from two unresolved conflicts, now cooperates with the EU within the framework of the EU Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas Agreement, integrated into it. Georgian citizens enjoy the benefit of visa-free travel to the Schengen countries. The EU came out on top in terms of share in total Georgian exports, but individually its members lag well behind Russia.

Meanwhile, the Baltic republics and the former Warsaw Pact states joined the EU "through NATO membership" - they were first admitted into the alliance and only then invited to the EU. While Georgia still has not been granted a Membership Action Plan (MAP) to join the alliance.

In addition, Georgia's accession to the EU by 2030 contradicts the very philosophy of the EU's Eastern Partnership programme, conceived as an alternative to full membership in the EU for the former Soviet republics.