Gov’t has approved deoligarchisation action plan, “no reasons” for rejecting Georgia’s EU candidacy - PM

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday said there would be “no reasons” for the European Union bodies to reject granting the country the bloc’s membership candidate status, after noting the Government’s approval on Thursday of an action plan for deoligarchisation to address one of the conditions for receiving the status.

The PM also pledged the ruling party would next week “react to all issues” related to the conditions raised during the visit of Josep Borrell, the EU High Commissioner, to Tbilisi earlier this month. 

He also stressed he believed “all conditions” would be fulfilled by the Government by the end of this month, adding if the bloc once again rejected granting Georgia the status, the decision would be “a very big mistake and injustice that we will not tolerate”.

We are not making any comparisons with anyone, we are just requesting a well-deserved status - especially considering the current geopolitical reality in the world, in our region and on the European continent [due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict] - based on the achievements the ruling party, the Parliament have ensured together with the Government”, he said. 

The deoligarchisation action plan, adopted by Georgia’s European Union Integration Commission chaired by the PM, involves implementation of systemic reforms to address “excessive influence on the political, economic, and social” spheres in the country.

The Government said the paper had been developed in accordance with the recommendations of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe and the EU. 

Pawel Herczynski, the EU Ambassador to Georgia, on Thursday recognised the country’s “obvious progress” in fulfilling the conditions that were partially met in the European Commission’s oral assessments at the end of June. 

He stressed all 12 priorities outlined for the status were “equally important”, but added the EU “especially expected” progress on deoligarchisation, domestic judiciary and media freedom.

The European Council has been scheduled to decide on Georgia’s status in December, following the final report and the recommendations by the European Commission in October on Georgia’s implementation of the reform agenda. 

Georgia officially applied for EU membership in March 2022, shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but only received a European perspective in June of the same year, unlike Moldova and Ukraine who were granted the membership candidate status with conditions.

Tbilisi called the bloc’s move “historic”, but described the decision as “politically grounded and not merit-based”, expressing hopes the European Council would assess the country’s progress “fairly” later this year and grant it the status.