ALDE Backs EU Candidacies for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova
The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), one of Europe’s largest political networks, has passed a resolution, calling on the EU Member States to support the candidacy status of Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine at the upcoming Council meeting at the end of June.
The resolution, adopted on June 4 during the ALDE Congress in Dublin, acknowledged “the historical choice of the people of Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine to join the European Union,” and hailed “decades of fighting for freedom and democracy” in the three countries.
Stressing the need for further work in the three countries in crucial areas of rule of law, an independent judiciary, media freedom, power distribution, and human rights, the document said granting EU candidacies would strengthen the democracies of the three countries and “free them from Russian influences.”
In the meantime, the document underlined the validity of the countries‘ compliance with the Copenhagen Criteria as an EU accession requirement.
ALDE also condemned Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and occupation of its territories, along with Moscow’s occupation of Georgian and Moldovan regions.
The Georgian parties Lelo for Georgia, Strategy Aghmashenebeli, Free Democrats, Girchi-More-Freedom, and Republican Party are members of ALDE and played a role in initiating and drafting the resolution.
Speaking of the significance of ALDE’s support, MP Khatuna Samnidze of the Republican Party told Formula TV that “this is very important given that there are questions about granting candidate status to Georgia, there are still many questions for our European partners.”
Georgia submitted the EU Questionnaire earlier in May, and like Ukraine and Moldova, is awaiting the EU Commission’s opinion on its candidacy bid.
Tbilisi and Chișinău applied to join the EU on March 3, following the suit of Kyiv days after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Also Read:
- Georgia PM Says EU Candidacy Will Propel More Reforms
- “No Reason” for EU to Reject Georgia’s Candidacy, GD Chief Says
- “Open the Door to Georgia,” Key Opposition Leader Tells EU
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)
