The European Union opened its doors to Georgia. Now Georgians have to go through this door. The door is open, but you have to go through this door together yourself, - the Ambassador of the European Union to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński, said.

According to him, he is glad that Georgia has applied for joining the European Union, and he is even more glad that the European Union has opened the door to it by granting it the status of a candidate.

"Georgia is a candidate country for EU membership. Now Georgians have to go through this door. So the door is open, but you have to walk through that door yourself. Unity on the priority of EU integration is absolutely essential, everyone needs to work together constructively, but how quickly you do that is up to you. I mean, if for some reason you feel that you need more time, or that you need to think more, or that there are other priorities than EU integration, that's your choice. As the European Union, we respect any choice that will be made here in Tbilisi, but what I really want to assure you is that by granting the candidate status, 27 member countries have loudly declared: the door is open, we are waiting for you", said the ambassador.

When asked which of the 9 steps defined by the European Commission is the most important, the ambassador answered that all of them are important.

"I fully agree that with the commitment of all political forces of Georgia to join the European Union, with a very solid, professional administration, with huge public support for joining the European Union, all nine steps can be implemented very quickly, but I will repeat that time is running out." As we know, the elections in Georgia are approaching and the election campaign is not the best environment for implementing serious reforms. So, time should not be wasted," the ambassador noted.

According to the diplomat, the European Union has opened the doors of Georgia.

"The European Union, on its part, opened the door to Georgia. Georgia is a candidate country for EU membership. Now Georgians have to go through this door. So the door is open, but you have to walk through that door yourself. Unity on the priority of EU integration is absolutely essential, everyone needs to work together constructively, but how quickly you do that is up to you. I mean, if for some reason you feel that you need more time, or that you need to think more, or that there are other priorities than EU integration, that's your choice. As the European Union, we respect any choice that will be made here in Tbilisi, but what I really want to assure you is that by granting the candidate status, 27 member countries have loudly declared: the door is open, we are waiting for you", said the ambassador.

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