Hungary supports Georgia’s EU accession

The European Union’s decision not to grant Georgia candidate status “is unfair”, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said on Tuesday, adding that the bloc’s credibility was at stake if it failed to grant Georgia candidate status this autumn.

Along with Ukraine and Moldova, Georgia should have been granted this status last year, he said at a joint press conference after meeting Georgian counterpart Ilia Darchiashvili in Budapest. Georgia, he added, was doing no worse than either Ukraine or Moldova in meeting EU expectations, adding that the related decision had been “political, not professional”.

Hungary has assigned an expert on EU integration to Georgia and it is ready to extend it further support, he said.

The government prioritises cooperation with the Caucasian region, he said, noting a joint government meeting in Georgia set for October in which pacts on investment protection, cooperation in higher education, vocational training and scholarships will be on the agenda.

On the topic of energy security and environment protection in central Europe, Szijjártó underscored Georgia’s growing role, noting the Azeri-Georgian-Romanian-Hungarian pact concluded at the end of last year whereby “we will lay the world’s longest underwater electric power cable under the Black Sea”.