Georgia is a European country for which traditional European values ​​are organic and precious. As an ancient Christian country, Georgia has always looked to Europe as the main bastion for the protection of Christianity. We are the country of Ilia Chavchavadze and Vazha-Pshavela, who made European values ​​the leitmotif of Georgian civic thinking.

It is our responsibility to the history of Georgia and our great ancestors to make Georgia a full-fledged member of the European family. Accordingly, our state task is to make Georgia a member of the European Union in 2030, for which we will spare no effort.

It should be emphasized that Georgia-EU relations, by their content, are bilateral and can only be bilateral. We are a proud and self-respecting nation with a long history. Therefore, it is categorically unacceptable for us to consider integration into the European Union as a mercy that the European Union should give us. Moreover, we believe that Georgia, with its rich culture and potential, can enrich the European Union just as much as the European Union can enrich Georgia.

Against this background, the attempt of some European politicians and bureaucrats to portray Georgia-EU relations as a one-sided event is categorically unacceptable for the Georgian people. Even more unacceptable is the whole cascade of insults that we have been hearing from these people all these years.

The ill-wishers of our country have turned the European Parliament into a bare tool of blackmail against Georgia, which is the greatest shame of the European Union. Over the past 3 years, the European Parliament has adopted 5 resolutions full of lies and insults, which were not shared not only by the Georgian society, but also by the European Commission and the European Council.

All of Georgia witnessed the interference of some European politicians and bureaucrats in the parliamentary elections, which is a gross violation of democratic electoral principles. Today, the same people are attacking legitimate elections. Moreover, they attack the OSCE/ODIHR election evaluation mission, which evaluated the elections as competitive, in the same way as the leaders of the radical opposition in Georgia do.

Also, we see that European politicians and bureaucrats use allocated grants and loans for blackmail against Georgia. We all remember how they planned to cancel a 75 million euro loan to Georgia a couple of weeks before the 2021 elections in order to have an illegitimate influence on the elections. A similar step was taken before the parliamentary elections of 2024, however, it could not have any impact on the choice of the Georgian people. Using money for blackmail is also an insulting practice that will never become acceptable to self-respecting Georgian people.

We all remember how the issue of the candidate's status was used to blackmail Georgia, bring chaos to the country and evict the society. Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, at a time when Georgia needed calm the most, some European politicians and bureaucrats used the topic of the candidate's status to try to organize a revolution in the country. Organizations that receive funding from the European Union were openly involved in the said revolution attempt. For almost 2 years, the topic of candidate status has been used in Georgia for radicalism and the so-called as the main tool for inciting polarization, which once again shows the unhealthy attitude towards Georgia.

And now, we see that these people have replaced the status of a candidate with the opening of negotiations. The opening of negotiations is used today as a tool to blackmail our country and divide the society, just as the candidate status was used before. This is also a completely artificial event, especially since the date of accession does not depend at all on the date of opening of negotiations.

The important thing is not when we open negotiations, but when we close them. As you know, Georgia delayed the negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova regarding the signing of the association agreement, the signing of the free trade agreement and the adoption of the visa-free regime, however, in all three cases, it achieved success before or at the same time as these countries. It should also be reminded that Montenegro and Serbia opened negotiations with the European Union in 2012 and 2014, respectively, but this did not speed up their European integration in the slightest. In 2016, the European Union terminated the negotiations opened in 2005 with Turkey.

From a technical point of view, only one and a half to two years are needed from the opening of negotiations to joining the European Union, and until 2030, no one has planned the expansion of the European Union to the east. This shows how artificial and therefore extremely insulting is the blackmail that some European politicians and bureaucrats are conducting against the state of Georgia on the topic of opening negotiations.

However, against this background, Georgia is not asked for reforms, but only for those steps that mean giving up dignity. These are the cancellation of the law on the transparency of "Enjeos", the cancellation of the law against LGBT-propaganda, the imposition of sanctions and the destruction of Georgia's economy by our own hands, the release of Mikheil Saakashvili, etc.

We will only move forward towards the European Union with dignity. This is the mandate of the Georgian society, of the 1,120,000 voters who have expressed their strong confidence in the Georgian Dream and its course.

Taking into account all of the above, we have decided today not to put the issue of opening negotiations with the European Union on the agenda until the end of 2028. We are also refusing any budgetary grant from the European Union until the end of 2028.

The end of 2028 is the time when Georgia will be properly prepared from an economic point of view to open negotiations to join the European Union in 2030. We are not stopping and will continue to fulfill our obligations under the Association Agenda and the Free Trade Agreement, and as indicated in the government program approved today, by 2028 we will have fulfilled more than 90 percent of these obligations. Moreover, we will fulfill all these obligations with our own financing, without any financial assistance from the European Union. We are not going to join the European Union by begging and standing on one leg, but to join the European Union with dignity, with a sound democratic system and a strong economy.

We will continue to move towards the European Union, however, we will not allow anyone to leave us in a mode of constant blackmail and manipulation, which is completely insulting to our country and society. We believe that our today's decision will make a significant contribution to improving relations between Georgia and the European Union. We must make it clear to the relevant European politicians and bureaucrats, who are completely devoid of European values, that they should not talk to Georgia with blackmail and insults, but with dignity. Using the issue of opening negotiations as a tool to divide and manipulate the society causes serious damage to the EU's reputation in Georgia. Our decision today will prevent this reputational damage to the EU in the future.

In conclusion, we would like to boldly state once again that by 2030, Georgia will be more ready to join the European Union than all the candidate countries. Georgia will become a member state of the European Union only with peace, dignity and prosperity. This is our promise to the Georgian people, which we will surely fulfill.