Georgia has filed for the EU membership, following the suit of Ukraine.

Chair of the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, Andrius Kubilius emphasized adhering the values of the Union for candidate status.

"Each European country can apply for EU membership and will be assessed by the European Commission according to its own merits. Then the decision whether to grant this country a candidate status and commence the accession negotiations will depend on the Council. This process is defined in the article 49 TEU, which demands that a European State, which wants to become the member of the Union must adhere to the values of the Union as defined in the article 2 TEU, which speaks about a respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights," MEP Kubilius told the Accent.

According to Vice-Chair of the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, member of the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee, MEP Marketa Gregorova, Georgia can greatly benefit from the status of a candidate.

"For years now we have been discussing with the Georgian representatives and also within the European Parliament the need for new incentives, so that Georgia feels motivated to progress in reforms. That is also why the Trio Strategy has been originally devised, though I personally thought it divides the region too much. There is no doubt this progress has been protracted in recent months, and there literally cannot be a stronger incentive than a candidate status. I thus look forward to answers to the questionnaire and in general - the progress. I have been saddened by the backsliding in the past months and disagreements among various actors. What this will do is at least clearly show how much dedication does the Georgian government have towards the European integration process, and that is a valuable information on which we can build already," she told the Accent.