Georgians were preparing to demonstrate in force on Monday to support the accession of their small Caucasian country to the European Union, after the European Commission’s recommendation to wait before accepting its candidacy.
Several organizations called in a press release for a “march for Europe” Monday evening in Tbilisi, in order to “prove the commitment of the Georgian people to their European choice and to Western values”.
“Europe is a historic choice and aspiration for Georgians, for which all generations have made sacrifices,” the organizers said in the statement.
“Freedom, peace, sustainable economic development, the protection of human rights and justice are values that unite us all and which would be guaranteed by integration into the European Union,” they added.
The rally aims to send a signal to Brussels as EU leaders are due to discuss whether or not to grant official candidate status to Georgia, as well as Ukraine and Moldova, this week.
If the European Commission gave a positive opinion concerning Ukraine and Moldova, it nevertheless considered on Friday that Georgia must first carry out reforms, in particular political ones, before being able to claim this status.
The EU executive recommended that Georgia be “offered the prospect of becoming a member of the European Union”, a situation which however has no legal value.
“It is up to Georgia to speed up (reforms) and move towards this open door,” commented Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The Georgian Dream Party, in power in Tbilisi, said it was “happy” to have a “concrete roadmap”, but considered it “regrettable” that the Commission does not support candidate status now.
The Georgian government has come under increasing criticism over its human rights record in recent years, with NGOs expressing concern over the decline in freedom of expression.