Georgia Takes 'First Step' Toward EU Accession - EU Commissioner

Georgia took its "first step" on Monday toward accession to the European Union after Foreign Affairs Minister Ilia Darchiashvili received the questionnaire of the European Commission, European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Oliver Varhelyi said on Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th April, 2022) Georgia took its "first step" on Monday toward accession to the European Union after Foreign Affairs Minister Ilia Darchiashvili received the questionnaire of the European Commission, European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Oliver Varhelyi said on Monday.

"This is the first step in your European path and on our side we are ready to work with you very fast, as fast as we can to deliver your opinion to the EU council as they have requested," Varhelyi said during handover of the EU questionnaire.

According to Varhelyi, the questionnaire is a first part of application assessment procedure, which would allow European Council to better understand political and economic conditions of Georgia.

"As you have requested and as you have applied for membership to the EU and under the instructions by the European Council in Versailles we have started to work on the assessment of your application for membership the first part of which is to hand you over the questionnaire, from where we would like to know where your country is, in terms of the political conditions and the economic conditions," Varhelyi added.

Georgia planned to apply for EU membership in 2024, but Tbilisi decided to speed up the process amid the Russian military operation in Ukraine. Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili signed an application for granting the country the status of an EU membership candidate on March 3.