Georgia should have been granted candidate status for EU membership along with Ukraine and Moldova. The failure to do so is inexplicable, incomprehensible and damaging for Europe, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in Tbilisi on 24 June.

At a joint press conference with his Georgian counterpart Ilya Darchisvili, the minister welcomed the fact that Ukraine and Moldova were granted candidate status at the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, but stressed that Georgia should have also been granted that status.

„If the European Union had even a modicum of strategic vision, Georgia should have been granted candidate status yesterday,”

FM Szijjarto opined, calling any decision to the contrary inexplicable, incomprehensible and harmful to Europe.

„Yesterday’s decision in Brussels is contrary to the aim of strengthening the EU. It is another wasted opportunity and disrespect to the Georgian nation,”

he said.

The minister insisted that the preconditions demanded of Georgia were „rather difficult to understand, absolutely general in nature, while also being quite meaningless in many cases, moreover, lacking a system of objective criteria”.

„Brussels often applies the same double standards to us Hungarians,”

he underlined.

Szijjarto said Hungary would boost its support for Georgia and do everything possible to bolster cooperation. Support offered includes backing Georgia’s membership of the UN Human Rights Council, continuing to provide 80 higher education scholarships to Georgian students each year, and opening a 140 million US dollar Eximbank credit line to promote bilateral business cooperation, he said.

During his visit, Peter Szijjarto will also meet with Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili.