It is the common responsibility of the Government of Georgia, the parliamentary majority and the opposition parties to put their differences aside and work genuinely towards fulfilling the European aspirations of their citizens, - reads a statement by the Chair of the Delegation for relations with the South Caucasus, MEP Marina Kaljurand, in which she speaks about the 12th meeting of the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee.

According to the MEP, Members of the European Parliament welcomed the fact that popular support for Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration is at an all-time record high in Georgian society.

“The European Parliament and the Parliament of Georgia held the twelfth meeting of their Parliamentary Association Committee (PAC) last week in Brussels. This meeting took place in the context of Russia’s continuing war of aggression against Ukraine and its consequences for the security of our entire continent and at a moment where EU-Georgia relations are going through some turbulences following mutual disappointments.

In June 2022, the European Council recognised Georgia’s European perspective and invited Georgia to address twelve priorities identified by the Commission to be granted candidatestatus. Therefore, we started our discussions by looking at the state of EU-Georgia relationsand progress made on implementing these twelve recommendations, which concern inter aliaeffective judicial reform, a free and independent media environment, the independence andaccountability of state institutions and the need to reduce political polarisation. Our Georgiancolleagues informed us about the intense legislative work in the Parliament of Georgia withthe aim of adopting legislation to cover the recommendations. My European Parliamentcolleagues and I underlined the need to implement the recommendations both in practice andin spirit. In some cases, progress appears superficial and patchy, and there remains aperceived lack of sincere willingness, from the part of the parliamentary majority, to involvegenuinely the opposition parties and civil society organisations in the decision-makingprocesses. At the same time, we called on the parliamentary opposition parties to make theirown contribution towards de-polarisation and to participate constructively in the legislativework.

Members of the European Parliament welcomed the fact that popular support for Georgia’sEuro-Atlantic integration is at an all-time record high in Georgian society, across party lines.This window of opportunity must not be missed. Now, it is the common responsibility of theGovernment of Georgia, the parliamentary majority and the opposition parties to put theirdifferences aside and work genuinely towards fulfilling the European aspirations of theircitizens.

Focusing on the example of the green energy transition, we took note of Georgia’s continuedreforms track and harmonisation efforts in a number of technical areas, in line with theAssociation Agenda 2021-2027, with a view to further tapping into the potential of Deep andComprehensive Free Trade Area and bringing Georgia closer to the EU.

Yet, the EU is much more than a mere area of economic growth and prosperity, or a compassfor technical, legal approximation. The EU is also a political project based on commonprinciples and values and the will to build an ever closer political union of democratic countries.We highlighted the need to improve Georgia’s alignment rate with the EU Common Foreignand Security Policy decisions and declarations, in line with the Association Agreement. In thisrespect, the recent resumption of direct flights between Georgia and Russia raised questionsas it occurs at a time when the EU and its Member States have suspended direct flights withRussia as a response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

We shared our concern over the lack of substantial progress on democratic reforms and ruleof law and negative developments observed in a number of key areas such as extremepolarisation, encroachments on the rule of law and the failing independence of the judiciary,including cases of political justice. In this context, we reiterated the positions expressed in theEuropean Parliament’s resolution of 14 December 2022 on the implementation of the EUGeorgia Association Agreement and called to suspend the prison sentence of formerPresident Mikheil Saakashvili for the purpose of seeking medical treatment abroad, onhumanitarian grounds and as a contribution to reducing the extreme political polarisation, aswell as to release imprisoned media owners, such as Mtavari Arkhi channel director NikaGvaramia.

In particular, we called on the Government and Parliament of Georgia to redouble their effortsto address more comprehensively the priorities related to the independence of the judiciary(priority No3), de-oligarchisation (priority No5), media freedom (priority No7) and theinvolvement of civil society (priority No10), while underlining that more efforts remained to bemade, too, when it comes to de-polarisation (priority No1), electoral reform (priority No2), anticorruption (priority No4) and vulnerable groups, including LGBTQIA+ persons (priority No8).Together with our colleagues from the Georgian Parliament, we condemned Russia’shorrendous war of aggression against Ukraine. We expressed our appreciation of the solidarityshown by the Georgian society, exemplified by massive deliveries of humanitarian aid toUkrainians in need, and called on the Georgian authorities to remain vigilant that Georgianterritory would not be used by Russian companies as a backdoor to circumvent sanctions.With regards to past misunderstandings and miscommunications that have led occasionallyto fraught relations between Kyiv and Tbilisi, we expressed the hope that both parties wouldsmoothen the tone of their official exchanges, keeping in mind that Russian imperialism, whichis their common foe, has fuelled and thrived on divisions throughout centuries.

We reiterated the EU’s unwavering support for Georgia’s independence, sovereignty andterritorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, and condemned the illeg alsteps taken by the Russian Federation resulting in the further deterioration of the security andhuman rights situation in the occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali / South Ossetia.We expressed our full support for the EU’s endeavours to foster a peaceful resolution of theconflict via the activities of its Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisisin Georgia and of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia and stressed the importance of theGeneva International Discussions and the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanisms(IPRMs). In this respect, we underlined once again that none of Georgia’s Western partnershas ever sought to draw the country into some kind of ‘second front’ against Russia.Conversely, we commended the Georgian authorities for their pragmatic ‘A Step to a BetterFuture’ peace initiative and emphasised the importance of people-to-people contacts andconfidence-building between the communities divided by the conflict.

Finally, I reminded that the European Parliament remains available to help reduce the extremepolitical polarisation and advance the EU accession-related reform agenda so that Georgianlawmakers and politicians can meet the expectations of Georgian citizens towards theircountry’s European future,” reads the statement.

source: IPN