EU Ambassador says “solving” transparency bill “issue, necessary” for opening accession talks with Georgia

The European Union “sincerely wants and hopes to open accession negotiations with Georgia, but it is “necessary to solve the issue” around the controversial domestic bill on transparency of foreign influence, Paweł Herczyński, the Ambassador of the EU to Georgia said on Thursday.

In his comments to the media on Europe Day in Tbilisi, Herczyński expressed concern over the recent developments in Georgia which had “complicated matters” for the EU integration, stressing “as repeatedly stated by all European leaders, this [transparency] bill does not comply with EU law and values”.

The Ambassador noted there was “still time to move forward [on EU path]” and emphasised the bloc would continue to “work closely” with the Georgian Government “to make this happen”, adding “we hope that there is still time to use all possible procedures so that it does not become law”.

The EU official highlighted the importance to “focus on reforms” and “not be distracted” before the upcoming enlargement report, and stressed Georgia “needs to hurry, time is running out to fulfil the nine priorities [outlined last year for the country by the EU]”.

This year's Europe Day in Tbilisi is of special importance, because we celebrate it for the first time together with Georgia as a candidate country”, Herczyński noted.

He emphasised that May 9 was the celebration of “the history of peace, stability and prosperity” of the 27 members of the EU, who “[with their] own culture and tradition” were “united by the values that we [EU] firmly follow”.