Georgia will ask the European Union to provide a clear membership perspective either in the Association Agreement or in some other form, Georgian Foreign Minister, Maia Panjikidze, said on March 3.

“Ukraine should be given a clear European perspective and the same should be done in respect of Georgia and Moldova. European perspective as a clear goal of these countries, which will allow them to become members of the EU after all the criteria are met, represents a huge stimulus for these [countries] and at the same time a clear signal for all those who want to deter European integration of these countries,” said Panjikidze.

“That will be one of those issues that we will raise during a meeting with Mr. Füle – Georgia will ask the European Union to make European perspective clear for [Georgia], if possible, in the Association Agreement, if not then in some other way,” Panjikidze told journalists, referring to EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle, who will hold meetings in Tbilisi on March 4.

Association Agreement, which Georgia initialed in November and wants to sign before autumn this year, does not contain membership perspective; in the preamble, the agreement says that the EU acknowledges “the European aspirations and European choice of Georgia.”

In case of Ukraine the EU made a vague hint in this regard, without mentioning membership perspective, when EU foreign ministers said on February 10, 2014 that the Foreign Affairs “Council expresses its conviction that this [Association] Agreement does not constitute the final goal in EU-Ukraine cooperation.”