Time in Tbilisi: April 24, 2024 17:05
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.
Georgia and the EU signed an AA on June 27, 2014 and today, July 1, the AA and its inclusive Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) deal fully entered into force.
From today all the provisions of the AA are functioning, which guaranteed Georgia’s political and economic integration with the EU.
The additional regulations which were introduced today were related to:
Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Georgia’s process of implementing political, trade-economic, social and legal standards in a European way was now irreversible.
Last month the EU Foreign Affairs Council announced its decision to end the procedures needed for ratification of the EU-Georgia AA deal. The Council said Georgia’s AA would fully come into force on the first day of July 2016.
Georgia started negotiating with the EU about its AA deal in July 2010, while negotiations regarding the economic part of the agreement – the DCFTA – started in December 2011.
During the negotiation process 14 plenary sessions were held to discuss the political section of the AA, six rounds of talks were about 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 on 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.
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).
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.
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.
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”.
Top leaders from the European Union (EU) are welcoming the official entering into force of the long-awaited Association Agreement (AA) between Georgia and the European body.
Georgia's Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said the AA deal meant a new chapter of deeper Georgia-EU relations.
Georgia is making headway in the implementing of its Association Agenda, with a number of reforms, strengthening democracy and the rule of law as well as the economy, already being implemented says the European Commission.
Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili is set to leave for Belgium today to participate in the third session of the European Union-Georgia Association Council. The event was scheduled to take place on Friday, December 2.
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.
Georgia’s Foreign Ministry has stated that the Georgia-EU 2017-2020 Association Agenda, drafted to ensure the fulfillment of the Georgia-EU Association Agreement, is more ambitious than the previous one covering 2014-2016.
The European Union (EU) and the Georgia Association Council meeting will be held in Brussels, Belgium on February 5. Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili will lead the Georgian delegation comprised of the members of the Cabinet.
Georgia is successfully delivering on its reform commitments taken within the Association Agreement (AA) signed with the European Union (EU). This is the conclusion of yesterday’s discussion at the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade, which reviewed the implementation process of the AA signed with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili will participate in the European Union (EU) and Georgia Association Council meeting tomorrow which will be held in Brussels, Belgium. The progress achieved through the implementation of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement and the Free and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) will be discussed at the meeting.
The Georgian government says that today’s Georgia-EU Association Council meeting highlighted the fact that "since the last meeting of the Georgia-EU Association Council Meeting Georgia has achieved enormous progress and vital outcomes”.
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.
Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani has announced the launch of a large-scale project which aims to raise awareness of the Georgian people living in regions regarding the benefits of Georgia integrating into the political structures of the west.
Prime Minister of Georgia Mamuka Bakhtadze has announced the creation of communications departments within all Georgian ministries to raise public awareness regarding the country’s foreign policy and priorities.
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.
A Georgian delegation headed by Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has left for Brussels, Belgium to present a ‘very ambitious’ roadmap for Georgian integration into the EU today which offers ways for Georgia, beyond the Georgia-EU Association Agreement, to integrate faster into the EU. The roadmap will be presented during the fifth meeting of the Georgia-EU Association Council.
The Georgian parliament has presented the action plan of the implementation of the EU Association Agreement (EUAA) for 2019-2020, defining the parliament’s activities in the process.
Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova, three Eastern Partnership countries, have signed a joint statement on the creation of a format of the EU plus the three countries for sectoral integration in transport, energy and other fields and to have full access to four liberties of the EU - free movement of goods, services, capital and the labour force. The statement, which has been signed earlier today on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Bratislava, has been handed to a High Representative of the EU.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday highlighted France's support for the country’s European Union integration path.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday said it was “unlikely” for any European Union member state not to back the European Commission’s decision to recommend the European Council to grant the country the membership candidate status in December.