Prime Minister of Georgia said that it was the European Commission, rather than the Georgian government, that had decided to suspend political dialogue with Georgia in June 2024.

In his remarks at the EU Enlargement Summit organized by Euronews in Brussels, he noted that Tbilisi’s subsequent stance was a response to what he described as the Commission’s “unfair policy” towards the country.

“The decision was that the opening of EU accession negotiations would not be on the agenda.

This was my personal statement, but we emphasised that if the European Commission decided to open accession negotiations, we would immediately join the process. Ultimately, it was the European Commission, not us, that decided to suspend political dialogue with Georgia in June 2024, before we made this statement.

We responded to the European Commission’s overall policy, which was unfair. We understood that the European Commission was using the issue of candidate status at the first stage and accession negotiations at the next stage to blackmail Georgia and Georgian society”, - said Irakli Kobakhidze.