European Parliament Members visit Georgia

Seven European Parliament Members (MEPs) are in Tbilisi to meet their local counterparts and discuss the progress Georgia was making towards European integration.

The event was part of the inaugural European Union (EU)-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee meeting, being held in Tbilisi from November 2-4.

The EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee is a new political body, enshrined in the EU-Georgia Association Agreement (AA) and is meant to provide the democratic scrutiny of the deal.

The MEPs and the Georgian Parliamentary Association Committee members, led by its chair Zviad Kvachantiradze, will discuss the state of play of the implementation of the EU-Georgia AA, including its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) component and the progress made in the visa liberalisation process.

The MEPs were also expected to discuss, with both Georgian Members of Parliament (MPs) and Georgian authorities, the steps taken to entrench modernisation and sustainable democratic reforms in the country in order to maintain Georgia's democratic momentum.

The current situation in the breakaway territories of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) will also be under scrutiny, with the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) field trip to the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) being part of their visiting agenda.

The European Parliament delegation was led by Sajjad Karim of the United Kingdom (UK). Euronest Parliamentary Assembly Co-President Heidi Hautala (Finland) and Andrejs Mammikins (Latvia), standing rapporteur on Georgia from the EP Committee on Foreign Affairs were also members of this mission, alongside fellow MEPs Valentinas Mazuronis (Lithuania), Claire Moody (UK), and Agnieszka Kozlowska-Rajewicz and Kosma Zlotowski (both from Poland).