Salome Samadashvili: We have been removed from the EU accession agenda - every Georgian citizen should look at Moldova’s success and see how their own government is deceiving and mocking them

“Every Georgian citizen should look at Moldova’s success and see how their own government is deceiving and mocking them. For years, the government has been telling them that, in order to make progress toward EU membership, the EU was asking Ivanishvili to open a second front against Russia,” Salome Samadashvili, one of the leaders of Lelo - Strong Georgia, said in response to remarks by European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos regarding Moldova.

According to Samadashvili, Moldova now has the opportunity to talk about EU membership because it got rid of an oligarch who had seized control of the government.

“We see that Moldova not only did not open a second front against Russia, but, on the contrary, the EU is helping Moldova, including within the framework of its own security policy, to strengthen its security and defense capabilities precisely against threats coming from Russia. This is a very good example of how you are being deceived.

In addition, there is another very important issue: why was Moldova given the opportunity to talk about EU membership today? Because it got rid of an oligarch who had seized power - in other words, de-oligarchization took place.

Unfortunately, the opposite process has taken place in Georgia: the oligarch has fully taken control of power, dismantled all state institutions, and as a result, we have been removed from the EU accession agenda,” Salome Samadashvili said.

For reference, European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said at a press conference in Brussels following the EU-Moldova Association Council that Moldova is moving forward on its path toward EU membership at an impressive pace.

According to her, the opening of two more clusters in accession negotiations with Moldova is planned in the near future.