TBILISI. March 27 (Interfax) - Georgian Prime Minister Irakly Garibashvili agrees with U.S. President Barack Obama's remark that "neither Ukraine nor Georgia are currently on the path to NATO membership" and insists that the priority for Georgia is EU membership.
"We should not cherish artificial illusions and should be realistic about this issue, and it is as the American leader has outlined," Garibashivli told journalists on Thursday.
The Georgian prime minister confirmed that NATO enlargement is not being discussed now. "We should explain to our population that this prospect does exist and we need to move in this direction consistently. Georgia should continue reforms and ensure development and consistent movement, as the main priority for us is accession to the EU," he said.
"Gradual integration in the European Union is the cornerstone of Georgia's both foreign and domestic policy. This is an irreversible process," Garibashvili said at an international conference dealing with Georgia's economic integration with the EU in Tbilisi on Thursday.
While the Georgian authorities welcome new opportunities that were opened at the Vilnius summit, they realize the challenges involved in this process, he said.
"We are ready to overcome these difficulties and believe that it is time right now for the European Union to recognize Georgia's European prospects. We are ready to be not only Europe's neighbor but a full member of the European community," he said.
"It is already clear today that, if the European Union does not give very clear promises and prospects to the Eastern Partnership countries, events similar to what happened in Ukraine will happen again," Garibashvili said. "It can't be ruled out that such crises could engulf the entire region," he said.
"I have just returned from Europe, where I had meetings with Mr. Barroso [European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso] and Mr. Rompuy [European Council President Herman Van Rompuy]. They reaffirmed that Georgia would sign an association agreement with the EU not later than in June this year," Garibashvili said.
This will be one of the most important treaties in Georgia's history, Garibashvili said. "We will do all we can to achieve this goal," he said.
Georgian Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze had said earlier that Georgia did not plan to be admitted to NATO in 2014.
"We have never said that the NATO summit this year will make a decision on Georgia's admission to the alliance," Panjikidze told journalists on Thursday in commenting on U.S. President Barack Obama's statement in Brussels suggesting that NATO does not have enlargement plans at the present time.
The U.S. president, however, did not mean that Georgia and Ukraine are not on the track toward joining NATO, she said.
"Georgia is firmly following this way, which means that it is pursuing democratic reforms and strengthening democracy on this way," she said.
"We have always said that it's going to be precisely so and that the NATO summit this year will note the progress that Georgia has made in the past year and a half or two years. So we are on this track, and nobody is saying anything against this. We are following this way with the belief that Georgia will become a NATO member one day, and it should be no surprise to anyone that this won't happen at this summit," Panjikidze said.