“Historic” recommendation on Georgia’s candidacy “acknowledges” its progress in fight against corruption - EU Ambassador
He said the EU “stands side by side with Georgia” to ensure that Rule of Law principles and standards “are respected and complied with”. Photo via EU Delegation in Georgia
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Paweł Herczyński, the European Union Ambassador to Georgia, on Saturday said the European Commission’s “historic” recommendation, last month, to grant the country the EU membership candidate status was an “acknowledgement” of Georgia’s progress in the fight against corruption.
In his statement on International Anti-Corruption Day, Herczyński noted establishing the Anti-Corruption Bureau in the country and developing a deoligarchisation action plan, approved by the Government in November, were “part of the way forward”, adding “more remains to be done”.
Strengthening the fight against corruption is a crucial component of the EU enlargement process and one of the nine steps on Georgia’s path to EU membership”, the Ambassador emphasised, stressing Georgia was part of “the efforts undertaken to address” the challenges in this regard.
He said the EU “stands side by side with Georgia” to ensure that Rule of Law principles and standards “are respected and complied with”.
International Anti-Corruption Day has been observed annually, on 9 December since the adoption of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption in 2003 to raise public awareness for anti-corruption.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Monday said the Government had approved the deoligarchisation action plan, aimed to meet one of the conditions outlined by the European Commission last year for granting Georgia the European Union candidate status.
The Government of Georgia on Thursday said the country had been ranked 43rd put of 196 countries in the Global Corruption Index published by the Swiss risk management company Global Risk Profile.
Georgian Deputy Finance Minister Mikheil Dundua on Monday said Georgia’s ranking in the latest Global Competitiveness Report, which placed the country in 11th place in Europe in corruption control, proved the country was “developing in the right direction”.
The State Security Service of Georgia on Thursday said its anti-corruption body brought 170 people to justice in 61 criminal inquiries in 2022, with the cases including bribery, illegal possession of real estate, and abuse of official authority.
The Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia launched an investigation in 117 criminal cases committed in the civil sector and criminal prosecution against 99 civil servants for corruption over the nine months of 2023, the state body said on Saturday.