Georgian parliament speaker, MEPs discuss EU conditions for Georgia’s membership candidacy, ties
Georgian parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday met with MEPs Marina Kaljurand and Sven Mikser. Photo: Shalva Papuashvili’s Twitter page
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Georgian parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday discussed the implementation of the European Union’s 12-point conditions for the country’s membership candidate status and bilateral parliamentary cooperation in a Tbilisi meeting with members of the EU-Georgia parliamentary association committee.
In a tweet following the meeting with MEPs Marina Kaljurand and Sven Mikser, Papuashvili said he had held a “cordial and frank” discussion with Kaljurand, who serves as the chair of the committee facilitating EU-Georgia relations, and Mikser - the EU rapporteur on Georgia.
Met with MEPs @MarinaKaljurand, Chair of the ????????-???????? Parliamentary Association Committee & @svenmikser, Rapporteur on Georgia. Had cordial and frank discussion on ????????'s progress in implementing the European Union recommendations & bilateral parliamentary ties. pic.twitter.com/OskLemg38E
— Shalva Papuashvili ???????? (@shpapuashvili) September 20, 2022
The MEPs also met with 13 representatives of Georgia’s domestic opposition behind closed doors, and are also scheduled to hold a discussion with the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Irakli Kobakhidze, later on Tuesday.
In the wake of its June decision to grant Georgia the European perspective, the European Council gave the country several months to address 12 conditions to receive the membership candidate status next year, with the articles involving the country’s judiciary, electoral system, deoligarchisation, depolarisation of the domestic political environment and others.
In response to the EU move and in a bid to meet the conditions, the ruling party presented its strategy for fulfilling the articles in June and invited the opposition in several working groups to jointly address the conditions.
However, the largest opposition group, the United National Movement, and two other opposition parties - Strategy Agmashenebeli and Lelo for Georgia - have refused to get involved in the process and instead launched a parallel working group, receiving backlash from a part of domestic politicians and the civil sector, as well as foreign officials.
Nikoloz Samkharadze, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday criticised the move of three Parliamentary opposition parties to boycott a working group initiated by GD for joint work for the country’s European Union membership candidate status and instead launch a separate format last week.
MEP Viola von Cramon on Friday said she disapproved of the plans of a part of the Georgian opposition to create parallel groups and boycott a working format proposed by the ruling Georgian Dream party for the country to fulfil the European Union's 12-point conditions and obtain the membership candidate status in December.
The ruling Georgian Dream party on Friday presented its strategy for fulfilling the 12-point conditions outlined by the European Council for granting the country the European Union membership candidate status later this year.
Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, on Thursday said the body had granted the European Union membership candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, and was ready to grant the same status to Georgia once the outstanding priorities outlined by the European Commission were addressed by the Georgian Government.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday said he had explained to the members of the EU-Georgia parliamentary association committee that the ruling party had offered “all parliamentary parties” to participate in the process of implementation of the 12-point conditions for obtaining the European Union membership candidate status.
Maka Botchorishvili, the chair of the Georgian parliament’s European Union integration committee, on Friday said it was “important” that European counterparts were informed about what the Georgian government was doing to fulfil European Union conditions for granting the country the membership candidate status.
The European Council on Monday published Conclusions on European Union priorities for cooperation with the Council of Europe 2023-2024, with the document noting the future of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine and their citizens "lies within the EU”.