EU-Georgia Association Council says future of Georgia, its citizens “lies within European Union”
The EU also said it acknowledged Georgia had carried out a number of “challenging reforms” and “successfully approximated” its legislation with the EU acquis “in many sectors”. Photo: Government Administration
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The European Union-Georgia Association Council highlighted the “historic importance” of the decision of the European Council to recognise the European perspective to Georgia and underlined the future of Georgia and its citizens “lies within the European Union”, in a joint press statement on Wednesday.
In the statement, which followed a meeting between the Georgian Government and EU leaders as part of the Council, the EU welcomed the start of the work in the Georgian Parliament on the implementation of the EU conditions for granting the membership candidate status to the country, and encouraged the ruling party to engage in an “inclusive process” with participation of representatives from the civil society and parliamentary opposition groups.
The European Union called on Georgia’s political forces to unite, work together and engage to address these priorities as a matter of priority, underlining that Georgia’s European path is merit-based and the European Union is ready to use all instruments to support it”, the statement said.
The Association Council reiterated its commitment to “further strengthen” EU-Georgia relations, including through fully exploiting the potential of the 2014-signed Association Agreement, including its Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area.
The EU also said it acknowledged Georgia had carried out a number of “challenging reforms” and “successfully approximated” its legislation with the EU acquis “in many sectors”.
It expressed “important concerns” over the “lack of substantial progress and negative developments in some key areas” in 2021 and encouraged Georgia to “redouble” its efforts to further consolidate democracy and reduce the political polarisation, strengthen the rule of law, the independence, integrity and accountability of the judiciary and the fight against corruption.
The bloc also underlined its “firm support” for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders and reaffirmed its “strong commitment” to conflict resolution in Georgia through a comprehensive approach.
EU and Georgia deplored the continued implementation of so-called “treaties” on integration signed between Russia and the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, and other illegal activities of Russia in these regions, in violation of Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, including the military build-up and installation of barbed wire fences along the administrative boundary line”, the statement noted.
The Association Council reiterated the obligation for Russia to fulfil the EU-mediated August 12, 2008 Ceasefire Agreement and reaffirmed its expectation that Russia should withdraw its military forces from Georgia’s territory and allow the establishment of international security mechanisms on the ground.
The Council also welcomed Georgia’s “successful recovery” from the economic crisis caused by Covid-19, with the GDP growth at 10.4 percent in 2021 and the continuation of the trend during the first months of 2022.
Josep Borrell, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said the European Council had “confirmed Georgia’s clear European perspective” in June, in comments following the EU-Georgia Association Council meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.
Oliver Varhelyi, the European Union Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Policy, on Tuesday said Georgia was a “country with a recognised European perspective” and called for a “message of encouragement” in comments following the EU-Georgia Association Council meeting in Brussels.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Tuesday expressed his confidence that the Georgia-European Union Association Council meeting would prove a “very important impetus” for the acceleration of the country’s European integration.
Georgia took the European perspective with great responsibility, to ensure the highest political and economic compatibility with the European Union, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Tuesday at the press conference held after the 7th session of the Georgia-EU Association Council.
Ruling Georgian Dream party head Irakli Kobakhidze on Wednesday said the messages voiced during and after the recent European Union-Georgia Association Council meeting in Brussels this week on the country’s European integration process were “very positive”.
Oliver Varhelyi, the European Union Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, on Tuesday said the “most important “advice for Georgia was to focus on the conditions of the European Commission for granting the country the EU membership candidate status, and expressed his hope “all stakeholders” in the country would work on the objective.
Josep Borrell, the European Union high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, on Tuesday said the implementation of the 12-point conditions for obtaining the EU membership candidate status was not only the Georgian government’s job but “everyone”, including citizens, should stand together to fulfil the recommendations.
Maka Botchorishvili, the chair of the Georgian parliament’s European Union integration committee, on Tuesday said the “ultimate goal” of the Georgian authorities was to see the country join the EU, and the “most important” thing was to make “rapid progress” on this path.
Maka Botchorishvili, the chair of the Georgian parliament’s European Union integration committee, on Thursday said European partners “unequivocally” supported the idea of the country’s integration into the European Union and a successful implementation of EU conditions for granting the country the membership candidate status.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said the Georgian government was following “diligently” each recommendation of the European Union for granting the country the membership candidate status, and expressed his hope for a “positive” political decision from the bloc.
Josep Borrell, the vice president of the European Commission and high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, on Thursday said the bloc would “step up” its work in support of cyber defence capacity building of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova among other partners.