European Parliament welcomes Georgia’s EU progress
Efforts of Moldova, Ukraine also praised

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution for Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova on how the nations fulfilled their obligations drafted in their respective Association Agreements (AA) with the European Union (EU).

The resolution was adopted last night and welcomed the progress of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine on their "chosen path of closer political and economic integration with the EU”.

Alongside the document, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) called on Russia to end its direct and/or indirect involvement in conflicts in the territories.

The resolution stated since Georgia and the EU signed an AA deal, which included a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) agreement, Georgia’s exports to EU nations rose 15 percent. 

The MEPs also pointed out that financial support offered by the EU must be matched by concrete progress on reforms in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Georgia’s Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Davit Bakradze welcomed the resolution text.  

As well as praising Georgia for its large-scaled and successful reforms, MEPs expressed their concern about the independence of the judiciary and possible threats to media pluralism in Georgia, and referred to a lawsuit about the ownership of the Rustavi 2 television broadcaster.

The European Parliament Members backed the idea of sending an EU expert mission to oversee the case, which was still continuing.

In the resolution the EU officials criticized the "blurred criteria" for appointing prosecutors and investigators and also the pressure exerted on judges at the Constitutional Court of Georgia. 

Responding to the resolution Georgia’s Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Davit Bakradze stressed Georgia had "gained the highest scores in the resolution.” 

This was the first time when the AA implementation process for Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova was discussed by the European Parliament.

We can say that Georgia received very high assessments in terms of fulfilling its obligations stated in the AA and DCFTA deals,” the Minister said. 

When speaking about the Rustavi 2 case, Minister Bakradze stressed the current Government of Georgian planned to invite a group of foreign experts to Georgia to learn about the case and offer recommendations.

Last night’s adoption of the resolution was preceded by debates in the European Parliament, where the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn said Georgia had carried out "impressive reforms” to meet its EU obligations.