European Parliament Committee Discusses Draft of Critical Report on Georgia
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Thursday, July 14, 2022
On July 13, at the meeting of the Foreign Relations Committee of the European Parliament, the MEPs discussed the draft annual report on Georgia's implementation of the EU Association Agreement, which should be the basis for the European Parliament's resolution.
As the author of the report, rapporteur on Georgian issues, Estonian MEP Sven Mikser (Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats) said, the report is largely based on the European Commission's assessments, which followed Georgia's application for EU membership.
According to Mikser, the draft report welcomes the European Commission's granting of a European perspective to Georgia, however, in order to obtain EU candidate status, “Georgia must successfully fulfill the main priorities outlined in the European Commission's perspective.”
“The project calls on the authorities of Georgia to protect the highest standards of democracy, rule of law and fundamental freedoms; To firmly start the implementation of the priorities of the reforms outlined in the European Commission's point of view, in order to show a strong political will to implement ambitious European aspirations,” Mikser said.
At the committee meeting, the MEP also drew attention to the challenge of ‘deep polarization’ that characterizes Georgia's political environment and pointed out that ‘the project reiterates that the main provisions of the agreement of April 19, 2021, reached through the mediation of the European Union, are still a guide for strengthening democracy and the rule of law in Georgia’.
According to Mikser, the text of the report also talks about the need to implement real judicial reform ‘based on a transparent and effective judicial reform strategy after 2021’ and ‘calls on the authorities to correct the shortcomings identified by the Venice Commission in the selection and appointment of judges at all levels, including the Prosecutor General’. The author of the report also notes that further reforms are needed in the Supreme Council of Justice.
The MEPs speaking at the session of the Foreign Relations Committee stated that the political spectrum of Georgia now faces an important task and it is necessary to implement the reforms with united forces and quickly, which are related to the recommendations recorded by the European Commission and approved by the European Council of the European Union.
At the meeting, the sad tendency of Georgia's democratic decline and the desire of the Europeans to help the country to fulfill the recommendations by the end of the year, before the further assessment of the European Commission, were noted.
Lithuanian MEP Rasa Jukneviciene said that Georgia is a ‘hostage of one person’ and has an oligarch in the form of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of ‘Georgian Dream’.
“If ‘Georgian Dream’ does not understand what de-oligarchization is, which is mentioned in the recommendation of the European Commission, I will help them to understand: it means De-Bidzina-sation of Georgia, or De-Ivanishvili-sation… In the parliament, we approved a resolution that mentioned sanctions. We must not stop pushing this issue forward and thinking about it. Also, I am drawing the attention of the European Commission and other institutions to our resolution,” said European People's Party (EPP) MEP.
German MEP, Michael Galler (EPP) called sarcastic the statement made by "Georgian Dream" chairman Irakli Kobakhidze that if a war starts in Georgia in December, the country will receive the status of a candidate for EU membership.
MEP Mikser said during his speech at the committee meeting, the text needs to be completed, and it will be possible after the delegation of MEPs arrives in Georgia next week, within the framework of the planned tour to the South Caucasus countries. September 8, 2022 was set as the deadline for submitting amendments to the European Parliament resolution.
The European Commission will probably prepare a report on the fulfillment of the 12 criteria defined for Georgia by October 2023.
Representative of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG-NEAR), Michael Rupp said that the European Commission will prepare a report ‘by 2023’ on how the country fulfills the European Commission's 12 recommendations, – instead of December 2022, as previously defined. He did not specify the specific date of 2023.
“After careful discussions, we decided that we should not rush the Georgian political elite to depoliticize the country, to sit down at the common table to work on reforms in depth. So, as requested by the European Council, we will prepare a report on how the priorities outlined in the enlargement package are being met by 2023. This will give the political system of Georgia enough time to work in depth on the mentioned priorities,” he said.
Recall that based on the recommendation of the European Commission, on June 24, 2022, the European Council made a final decision, granting Ukraine and Moldova candidate status, Georgia - European perspective;
In addition, the European Council stated that Georgia, after fulfilling the 12 priorities defined by the European Commission, will also be granted the candidate status.
The European Commission initially named December 2022 as the deadline for the implementation of the 12 priorities - it indicated that the European Commission ‘will monitor Georgia's progress in the process of implementing these priorities and will make a report by the end of 2022’.
A meeting of the Georgia-EU Association Council is scheduled for September 6. And as a representative of the European Union's Foreign and Security Policy Service (EEAS), said in the European Parliament, the EEAS and the Commission will publish a report on the implementation of the Association Agreement by the end of August.
