Finance Minister tells Parliament Gov’t continuing further harmonisation with EU regulations
Georgian Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili on Wednesday said the Georgian Government continued the process of “further harmonisation” with European Union regulations. Photo: Ministry of Finance
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Georgian Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili on Wednesday said the Georgian Government continued the process of “further harmonisation” with European Union regulations and added the European Commission’s recommendation for the country to be granted the EU membership candidate status was “another proof” of the progress achieved within the domestic public finance management reform.
Khutsishvili told MPs the Government was preparing the EU Economic Reforms Plan document for the first time using the methodology developed by the bloc for candidate countries.
He said the reform of internal financial management and control had been carried out over the years through the Harmonisation Centre of the Ministry of Finance, while the tax system of Georgia had been “successfully” developing for years with the principle of maximum compatibility with EU regulations and was “largely harmonised”.
The Minister said the efforts provided for “permanent maintenance of sustainable macro-fiscal parameters” and “strict, but at the same time, efficient and flexible” fiscal discipline.
A meeting of the Investors Council, chaired by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, on Wednesday discussed ongoing reforms for Georgia’s European integration and the body’s involvement, the Government Administration said.
“Successful reforms” implemented by the Georgian Government and the country’s progress on the European Union integration path were summarised on Tuesday in a meeting between the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Paweł Herczyński, the EU Ambassador to the country and ambassadors from EU member states.
Shalva Papuashvili, the Georgian Parliament Speaker, on Sunday said the European Commission’s positive recommendation to the European Council last week to grant Tbilisi the European Union’s membership candidate status in December was the bloc’s “message” to Russia that the former saw Georgia as its part and not as an “abandoned periphery”.
The European Commission on Wednesday issued the recommendation for the European Council to grant Georgia the European Union membership candidate status.
Georgian Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili on Wednesday said the domestic economy would “continue to grow significantly” after achieving double-digit growth over the past two years, a dynamic he said had allowed the Government to “fully recover” the losses caused by Covid-19 and return to pre-pandemic levels this year.