The European Commission (EC) has decided to postpone consideration of granting Georgia the status of candidate to the European Union (EU) until 2023, the official representative of the EC Michael Rupp said, speaking at a meeting of the European Parliament.

Initially, it was planned to consider the issue of the next stage of Tbilisi's integration into the EU in December 2022. A Commission spokesman explained that the decision to postpone was made after a cautious political discussion.

"After careful reflection, we decided that we should not rush the Georgian political elite to sit down at a common table in order to depoliticize the country and work on reforms," Rupp said, noting that the republic is working very carefully on reforms for EU accession.