Georgia hoping to get EU candidate status this year

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has said he is hoping that Georgia will get the European Union candidate status by the end of this year.

According to him, the Georgian government is doing its “utmost” to obtain the status of a EU membership candidate state and by “merit-based” decision the country deserves the candidate status.

"We are expecting that, once we are doing everything possible, we should get the status by the end of this year. If that's about a deserved admission. Our country deserves the candidate status," Irakli Garibashvili said in an interview with Imedi TV.

The PM praised the Georgian Parliament’s “hard work” with the government to implement the 12-point conditions outlined by the EU for granting the membership candidate status to Georgia later this year, “in the shortest possible time”.