Chair of the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly Andrius Kubilius has said that "for a long time, Georgia was at the forefront on the path to the European Union, however, for some years now the Georgian government actions send very mixed messages to European partners".

MEP Kubilius spoke about the recent developments in Georgia and said that "now Georgia has a perception problem".

"Now Georgia has a perception problem – the Michel agreement is not implemented, there is former President jailed, and just as the Commission started drafting the recommendation, a politicised sentence was issued to an owner of a media, critical towards the Government. Respect for democracy, rule of law and human rights is as much important as legal and economic alignment to EU acquis. Friends of Georgia have many times warned, that bitter political infighting will damage Georgia's European perspective, and that the responsibility for finding a firm ground for common work towards the EU accession rests on the ruling party and the Government. Russia's war against Ukraine has suddenly brought a chance to push for a candidate status for all three Trio countries. However, I am not sure that the Georgian Government is ready for that. Sometimes it seems that it sabotages Georgia's European chances", - Kubilius told the Accent.

"I hope the Government and the Georgian people are prepared for different scenarios. What I am most worried about, is that the ruling politicians will start a blame game on the EU and on opposition, instead of concentrating on pushing forward to implement the needed reforms", - he added.

Tbilisi followed Kyiv’s suit and signed the EU membership application on March 3, in the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Georgia gave in the first part of its EU Questionnaire on May 2 and it gave the second part of its EU Questionnaire on May 10. Tbilisi is awaiting the European Commission’s opinion in June.