On June 21, The Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Gharibashvili, evaluated his latest visit to Brussels and his meeting with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and European Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi. In addition, the status of implementation of the 12 recommendations discussed at the meeting and Georgia's expectations regarding the acceptance of a candidate country for EU membership.

"I personally got the impression that we should have quite positive expectations, although there are many things to be decided before then," Gharibashvili said in his comments to the media after participating in the cyber security forum. In his words, we should calmly wait for the decision of the European Commission.

"In the given situation we are in, the whole world, what is happening on the European continent and this devastating war in Ukraine, it has completely changed the international order. In such a situation, I told them that the separation of Georgia would be a strategic mistake of the West and that it was not in the West's or our interests. I also clearly told our friends that if we desire to end polarization, they must grant us status because this is one of the main subjects of speculation and a source of polarization. If the country receives candidate status, it will automatically at least halve the degree of polarization," the PM said.

Gharibashvili added that Georgia had fulfilled 11 recommendations; the only unfulfilled recommendation is overcoming polarization. Irakli Gharibashvili sees the responsibility of the opposition in its non-fulfillment.

Irakli Gharibashvili met Charles Michel on June 14. Before that, the process of Georgia joining the European Union was the topic of discussion between the Prime Minister of Georgia and the President of the European Council at the meeting held in Brussels on April 25. Last year, the European Union granted Ukraine and Moldova the status of candidates for EU membership and Georgia the European perspective and set 12 conditions for Tbilisi to obtain the candidate status.

The 27 member states of the European Union must decide on the candidacy for membership by the end of the year; before that, they expect the first report of the European Commission on the enlargement for Georgia in October.

The PM's comments were followed by the announcement by the chairman of "Georgian Dream," Irakli Kobakhidze, that the ruling party would no longer discuss adopting the "De-Oligarchization" law, which was planned in the coming weeks. He argued that the "Georgian Dream" will not return to the discussion of the draft law until December and will wait for the position of the European Commission and the European Council on this topic. He also noted that "Georgian Dream" is interested in whether the issue of de-oligarchization will be removed from the 12 recommendations.

Kobakhidze noted that European partners, including the President of the European Council, asked Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili not to adopt the law during his visit to Brussels.

Last week, despite the negative opinion published by the Venice Commission, the Parliament of Georgia adopted the "De-Oligarchization" bill in the second reading. In its second and final conclusion, the Venice Commission stated that despite the changes, the Parliament should not adopt the draft law, citing the potential danger of using it for political purposes. The commission noted that the draft law is based on an "individual" approach instead of a "systemic" one.