Representatives of the civil sector, opposition political parties and a crowd of citizens gathered outside the Georgian parliament in the capital Tbilisi, calling for the resignation of the government.

In this context, the Mtavari Arkhi TV channel indicated that “the deadline given by the popular movement to Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and his government on June 24 has expired.” She explained that “the government did not resign, so a wave of protest began in the country.” She noted that “the demonstrators demand the formation of a Council of Ministers (national consensus), which will be able to carry out reforms in the country in order to obtain the status of a candidate member of the European Union.”

For his part, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Irakli Kobakhidze, confirmed that “the party will form working groups to fulfill the 12 conditions required by the European Union so that the country can receive candidate status.” The EU summit in June last year agreed to nominate a candidate for membership in Ukraine and Moldova. The leaders of the EU member states indicated that they are also ready to give Georgia the status of a candidate for membership in the bloc, but it must meet a number of conditions.