Georgia approves Association Council staff

Georgian Government approved the staff of the Association Council, which has been created under the Association Agreement (AA) signed between European Union (EU) and Georgia.

The Council will be led by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and in case of need, he would be replaced by the Foreign Minister Tamar Beruchashvili.

In addition, the council consists of Ministers of Culture, Justice, Refugees, Infrastructure, Corrections, Agriculture, Sports and State Ministers for Reconciliation and European Integration.

Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili will determine which Ministers should attended council meetings according to the relevance of the topics to be discussed on them.

The Council is the highest formal institution established under the AA. Its creation on the ministerial level was foreseen within the agreement.

In addition to monitoring and supervising the implementation process of the AA, the council will review any significant bilateral or multilateral issues that would originate within the frames of the Agreement.

The Association Council will meet at a ministerial level on regular basis, at least once a year and additionally when circumstances would require this.

Decisions of the council would be binding for all parties. In addition, the Association Council will be authorized to update or amend enclosures to the document, if it does not contradict Title IV of the AA concerning Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area issues.

The first meeting of the EU-Georgia Association Council was held in Brussels on November 17 2014.

The Council was chaired by the EU High Representative (HR) for the Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and the Georgian delegation was led by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili.