Georgian prime minister puts off EU membership

By Andrew Beatty

Date: 22/06/06

EU membership will not be on Georgia's agenda in the near future, according to the country's Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli.

During a three-day visit to Brussels last week, Noghaideli said that the EU's concerns about further enlargement had convinced the Caucasian republic to focus on membership of NATO and pursue a free trade agreement with the EU instead.

"It is totally counterproductive to discuss with the European Commission or EU member states possible membership of the Union, totally counterproductive," he said in an interview. "There is a kind of enlargement fatigue in the European Union and any discussion would be senseless."

His comments came as the debate about future enlargement continued to rage within the EU.

During a summit last week (15-16 June) EU leaders discussed the Union's ability to absorb new members, with France, Austria and Denmark pressing to see 'absorption capacity' become a criterion for future enlargement. In the final approved text, the word "criterion" had been deleted although references to taking citizens' perception of enlargement into account remained.

But supporters of enlargement have warned that the debate could put at risk the EU's ability to encourage reforms in neighbouring countries through the prospect of membership.

Noghaideli said that Georgia would now like to conclude a free trade agreement with the EU and work on an action plan which is expected to be concluded shortly.

"We do not put on the agenda membership of Georgia to the European Union at this stage. We want to concentrate on the European neighbourhood policy action plan," he said.

His comments indicate a significant shift in tone from Tbilisi.

After the overthrow of Eduard Shevardnadze's government in 2003 the leaders of the Rose Revolution pledged that their country would join the EU and NATO within a matter of years.

Last September Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili predicted his country could join NATO in 2008 and the EU shortly after.

For Noghaideli, joining NATO is now the number one foreign policy objective for Georgia.

But neighbouring Russia is critical of the former Soviet republic's drive to join the military alliance. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned that such a move would cause a "colossal geopolitical change".

Noghaideli rejected Lavrov's comments: "It is between us and the 26 members of NATO and not anyone else to decide how and when we join."

Moscow is also upset about Georgian plans to leave the commonwealth of independent states. In addition, the two countries have clashed over regional conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, where Russia has stationed thousands of troops.

During a meeting on Wednesday (14 June), Noghaideli urged EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to step up the Union's engagement to solve these 'frozen conflicts' and to become more involved in efforts to demilitarise South Ossetia.

During a three-day visit to Brussels in mid-June 2006, the Georgian Prime Minister, Zurab Noghaideli said that the EU's concerns about further enlargement had convinced the Caucasian republic to focus on membership of NATO and pursue a free trade agreement with the EU instead.

• Primary Source

European Commission: DG External Relations: The EU's relations with Georgia http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/georgia/intro/index.htm

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