By AFP and Kontur | 2023-12-11

TBILISI -- Georgian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) staged a pro-European Union (EU) march in the capital Tbilisi on Saturday (December 9), a week ahead of the bloc's meeting on granting the country membership candidacy status.

EU leaders are set to discuss putting Tbilisi on a formal membership path and to launch accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova during a European Council (EC) meeting Thursday and Friday.

The EC defines the EU's political priorities.

President Salome Zurabishvili joined the rally at Tbilisi's Europe Square, where demonstrators unfolded a 33-meter-long and 22-meter-wide EU flag, which organizers claimed to be the "largest in the world."

She said she counted on EU leaders to grant Georgia candidate status but expressed concern over the position of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

He has threatened to block key decisions concerning Ukraine at the upcoming EU summit -- which could imperil Georgia's chances of obtaining candidate status at the same time.

"It would be extremely serious if Orban -- under the influence of Russia -- could force the European Union to go against decisions that lead toward a common European future, toward the shared freedom of Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova in the European space," Zurabishvili said.

EC President Charles Michel met Orban on November 27 to ease tensions, while French President Emmanuel Macron hosted him in Paris last Thursday in a bid to break the deadlock over Ukraine.

'Hello Europe, goodbye Russia'

Beating drums, waving EU banners and Georgian flags, several hundred representatives of Georgian NGOs marched on Saturday along Tbilisi's main thoroughfare, Rustaveli Avenue.

"Georgians' unity holds decisive importance on our path towards the EU," the march organizers said in a statement. "We must once again demonstrate our unity and ensure our voice is heard."

Demonstrators expressed optimism over Georgia's chances to advance on its EU accession path, with some saying that such progress would mark Georgia's final rupture with Soviet-era master Russia.

"I'm sure we will get EU candidacy because we, Georgians, belong to Europe," one of the rally participants, student Marika Gerliani, 20, told AFP.

Another demonstrator, 60-year-old mathematician Nika Tvauri, said: "It's about Georgia returning home. Hello Europe, goodbye Russia."

Georgia applied for EU membership alongside Ukraine and Moldova after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

EU leaders have granted candidate status to Kyiv and Chisinau but urged Tbilisi to first implement judicial and electoral reforms, improve press freedom and curtail the power of oligarchs.

In November, the European Commission recommended EU leaders grant Tbilisi official candidate status.

The commission is part of the EU's executive branch.

The recommendation came with a caveat that the Georgian government take reform steps "that mirror the genuine aspirations of the overwhelming majority of its citizens to join the European Union."

According to opinion polls, more than 80% of the population supports EU and NATO membership, which are enshrined in Georgia's constitution.