We have already started to report on future expansion. We will go through the same process as last year, we will consult with everyone, we are consulting with the government, but also, surprisingly, we are talking with the opposition and civil society. The European Union will publish an enlargement report with recommendations in October, and these recommendations will be positive or negative, and it all depends on how quickly and decisively the 9 steps are implemented in Georgia, - the EU Ambassador to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński, told reporters.

According to him, the 9 steps established by the European Union should be implemented as quickly as possible.

"As we know, in the middle of December last year, on one of the happiest days of my professional career, I stood on the stage with Georgian leaders and we celebrated a historic moment for Georgia - Georgia officially became a candidate country for EU membership, it was a huge achievement and I once again congratulate everyone, every Georgians, to reach this historical stage. Along with granting candidate status, European leaders presented a road map of what Georgia needs to do to move to the next stage - to start negotiations on EU membership. This roadmap consists of 9 steps. All of them are equally important. Yes, you are right, that was about 5 months ago. The work is ongoing, we are in constant contact with the Georgian authorities. The Georgian delegation makes visits to Brussels, delegations from Brussels come to Georgia. I am glad that the visit of 27 ambassadors of the European Union took place yesterday and today, and the work of the Political and Security Committee continues. But the message that comes from me and from the 27 EU ambassadors is that time is running out. We must not waste time. All the ingredients are there for Georgia to make progress and move to the next stage and open accession negotiations, but it must be done as soon as possible, all 9 steps must be completed as quickly as possible, because we have already started to draw up the future enlargement report. We will go through the same process as last year, we will consult with everyone, we are consulting with the government, but also, surprisingly, we are talking with the opposition and civil society. The European Union will publish an enlargement report with recommendations in October, and these recommendations will be positive or negative, and it all depends on how quickly and decisively the 9 steps are implemented in Georgia. So we sincerely hope that the process will be accelerated and that great progress will be made on all 9 steps so that the European Commission can give a positive recommendation and the Member States can agree to start accession negotiations with Georgia in December this year, but it is completely in the hands of the Georgian political elite," the ambassador said.

ipn.ge