EU-Georgia Association Agreement fully comes into force on July 1
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Georgia will fully enjoy the benefits of its Association Agreement (AA) with the European Union (EU) from July 1.
Last night the EU Foreign Affairs Council announced its decision to end the procedures needed for ratification of the EU-Georgia AA deal. The Council said the Agreement would come into force on the first day of July 2016.
"After signing the AA, this is another important date in the history of EU-Georgia relations,” said Georgia’s Foreign Ministry in a statement following the Council’s decision.
The Ministry said this decision would open a new chapter in Georgia’s relations with the EU and its member states.
The Georgian side believed the AA would become the new, main judicial framework that defined high-level cooperation between Georgia and the EU.
"The process of Georgia’s political association and economic integration, which includes implementation of European political, trade-economic, social and judicial standards, will speed up and will be irreversible,” said Georgia’s Foreign Ministry.
Georgia started negotiating with the EU on its AA deal in July 2010, while negotiations on the economic part of the agreement – the DCFTA – started in December 2011.
During the negotiation process, 14 plenary sessions were held on the political section of the AA, six rounds of talks were held regarding the DCFTA and around 100 video conferences were held.
Negotiations ended in July 2013 and the AA deal was initiated in November 2013 at the Vilnius Summit and signed on June 27, 2014 in Brussels.
All essential elements of the AA partially came into force from September 1, 2014. Before the document could be fully implemented, the national parliaments of all 28 EU member countries needed to ratify the agreement.
In December 2015 Belgium was the last – the 28th – EU member state to ratify Georgia’s AA deal.
This afternoon Usupashvili announced Belgium – the final EU state to sign the Georgia-EU deal – had penned the agreement this morning. Through this step, the Georgia-EU AA ratification process was completed.
From today Georgia is able to export its products to the European Union’s (EU) marketplace, which boasts a population of 500 million, with no custom tariffs.
Georgia is celebrating the first anniversary of signing its Association Agreement (AA) with the European Union (EU); an occasion described by Georgian leaders as a "giant step towards free Europe”.
Garibashvili described the signature of the Agreement as a "new great date in the chronicles of his homeland”.
The main angel in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius is wearing Georgian scarf to mark the full force of Georgia’s Association Agreement (AA) with the European Union (EU).
Today is one of the most important days for Georgia on its European Union (EU) integration path as the country’s Association Agreement (AA) with the EU is fully and officially coming into force.
Co-chair of the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee, a body which provides scrutiny of the implementation of the Georgia-EU Association Agreement, states that MEPs in the European Parliament recognize Georgia’s progress to the EU.
Four years have passed since the signing of the historic Association Agreement deal between Georgia and the EU.Georgia has received more than €400 million in financial support from the EU since the signing of the agreement on June 27, 2014, the Georgian Foreign Ministry says. The Foreign Ministry says that Georgia has progressed much in terms of legal and institutional integration with the EU and has become a member of Europe’s energy union.
Lawmakers of the European Parliament (EP) have stated that Georgia is on a good reform track.MEPs made the statement yesterday when the EP Foreign Affairs Committee took stock of the implementation of the EU association agreements with Moldova and Georgia, which entered into force two years ago.
Member of the European Parliament Clare Moody has stated that Georgia is a star of the region for its commitment to European values. Moody made the statement yesterday at the European Parliament’s plenary session, during the discussion and debates of the report drafted by MEP Andrejs Mamikins regarding the implementation process of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has thanked MEPs for their positive assessments of the steps the Georgian government has taken so far to successfully implement the EU-Georgia Association Agreement deal.
The European Parliament has adopted the resolution on Georgia in the wake of the discussion regarding the implementation process of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement on Tuesday. The resolution was approved today by 528 votes to 97, with 34 abstentions.
Six years ago on June 27, Georgia signed the Association Agreement (AA) with the European Union in Brussels, which includes the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA). The agreement fully came into force on July 1, 2016.