- Final for delivery -

Mr. President,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the EU and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries Turkey, the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this statement.

The EU reaffirms its firm support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognised borders.

The EU remains committed to supporting peace-building and conflict resolution in Georgia, including through its co-chairmanship of the Geneva International Discussions and the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) on the ground.

The EU expresses its deep concern about the state of play in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and at the continuous deterioration of the human rights situation in these regions.

The EU underlines the importance of the right of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons to choose a durable solution, including a voluntary, safe and dignified return, as well as of being able to exercise property rights. The EU regrets that so far no progress has been achieved in these issues and recalls that addressing refugees and IDPs issues is a core task of the Geneva International Discussions.

The EU welcomes the progress made by the Georgian government in respect of durable housing solutions as well as in terms of socio-economic integration of IDPs. Likewise, we encourage the Government to address remaining difficulties with respect to access to drinking and irrigation water, heating and livelihoods, as well as access to social and medical infrastructure.