TBILISI -- Thousands of people filled a main square in Tbilisi on December 15 for a celebration of a decision by EU leaders to grant Georgia candidate status for membership in the 27-nation bloc.
The EU announced the decision to grant candidacy status to Georgia and open membership negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova on December 14, the first day of an EU summit in Brussels.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili spoke at the government-sponsored celebration in Tbilisi, calling the decision historic and congratulating Georgian citizens on achieving the status.
"This historic victory belongs to you, our invincible, proud, freedom-loving Georgian people,” Gharibashvili told the crowd on Freedom Square. “We won this victory together.”
He said that meeting the criteria to achieve candidate status was not easy and required Georgia to go “through a lot of trials,” but the country persevered.
“December 14 and today will go down in the history of Georgia as a proud and worthy Georgian day of well-deserved victory. From today, Georgia has become a European country," Gharibashvili said.
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Thousands Of Georgians Celebrate Country's EU Candidate Status
The prime minister also thanked European and American allies and other supporters, saying Georgia must prepare for the even bigger victory of becoming an EU member.
“By God's will, we should be able to unite our country and fulfill the main dream of every Georgian and every citizen living in this land, to live in a united, strong European state,” he said.
EU Ambassador to Georgia Pavel Herchinsky also addressed the crowd, saying the ultimate goal was membership in the European Union.
Herchinskiy noted the roles of Georgia’s political leaders, civil servants, civil society, and the media in achieving the country's candidate status.
“But, first of all, I congratulate the people of Georgia, who faithfully support the integration into the European Union,” he said. “The voice of the population of Georgia is clearly heard in the European Union.”
Earlier on December 15, lawmakers in both the Georgian and Moldovan parliaments waved EU flags and played the bloc's anthem at their opening sessions.
Moldova’s President Maia Sandu invited citizens to a pro-European gathering scheduled for December 17 in Chisinau to herald what she described as a “historic step for the destiny of our country.”
Moldova's pro-Western Prime Minister Dorin Recean echoed Sandu, saying “Moldova is European" and "our future is in the EU.”