Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I suspect the vote will be called at 11 a.m., but we will see how it goes.

I welcome the witnesses to Dublin. We met with Mr. Samkharadze and Mr. Songulashvili when we visited Tbilisi last year. It is great to have them in Dublin. When we were there, the decision of the European Council came through that Georgia was not going to get candidate status. That was a great disappointment. All of the parliamentarians we met were very disappointed. It is very clear that Georgia wants to be a member of the European Union. That is the wish of its population, as the witnesses have outlined.

Obviously, there are the 12 points that the European Commission brought forward. When we were in Georgia, reference was made the EU's first recommendation, which is on polarisation, and the fifth, with relates to deoligarchisation. The latter was discussed earlier. There is concern as to how it can be measured or implemented. It seems Georgia is making progress in that regard.

I have two questions. One is on Georgia's relationship with Russia, which was dealt with in Mr. Samkharadze's presentation. Is the Russian Federation endeavouring to influence the politics of Georgia and how is it doing that? Obviously, I appreciate that it has annexed some of its territory and there are the other issues that were mentioned. Is that an ongoing threat to Georgia? How is Georgia doing with regard to the sanctions imposed by the European Union and others on Russia? Is Georgia committed to imposing sanctions on Russia?

The Georgian ambassador has briefed me on my second question, in case we do not have time. It relates to the former president. It matters that he is in prison and it would be remiss of us not to raise it here. I would be interested to hear the witnesses' take on that. I hope that Georgia will be a member of the European Union sooner rather than later. It has my full support in that regard.