European Council President highlights “positive” reform momentum behind Georgia’s European perspective

The President of the European Council Charles Michel on Thursday said a “positive momentum to reform" had been created by last year's decision by the European Council to grant Georgia a European perspective, and noted the the country’s future was in the European Union.

He said the momentum had been created to enable the country to "advance on its European path", and also welcomed Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s “reconfirmation” that the Government would not seek to adopt the bill on transparency of foreign influence, retracted in March following public protests and criticism by domestic opposition, non-governmental organisations and Western partners of the Government. 

The European official also welcomed the Georgian Parliament’s decision not to pass the deoligarchisation bill in the third reading as a positive step, after the draft was described as having involved "personal", instead of "systemic", approach by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe. 

Michel also responded to the pardoning of the head of the domestic Mtavari Arkhi channel by the Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Thursday by saying the decision was an “essential” step towards depolarisation of the political environment in Georgia.