On Wednesday 14 December, the European Parliament welcomed the European Council’s June 2022 decision to recognise Georgia’s European perspective, calling on the country to work on 12 key priorities outlined in the Commission’s opinion.
Adopting the report by Sven Mikser (S&D, Estonia) by 430 votes to 52 with 126 abstentions, the European Parliament encourages the Georgian authorities to work on these priorities in an “inclusive and transparent” manner, calling on all Georgian political forces to contribute constructively to these efforts and to join forces to avoid compromising their key objective of Georgia’s accession to the EU.
The European Parliament calls for continued efforts in terms of the rule of law, stressing, inter alia, “the importance of implementing a genuine, thorough and ambitious reform of the justice system”. It also calls on Tbilisi to complete the country’s electoral reform and to address persistent shortcomings in the campaigning and conduct of elections. For the European Parliament, the authorities must also step up the fight against corruption and organised crime and guarantee media freedom and the protection of human rights.
MEPs also call on the country to align itself with EU sanctions and to ensure that it is not used to circumvent international sanctions related to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Furthermore, concerned about the number of Georgian asylum seekers in the EU, the European Parliament calls on the Georgian authorities to strengthen cooperation with their European partners and to take further steps to address this situation.
Finally, the European Parliament reaffirms its full support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognised borders, calling for continued efforts to achieve a peaceful negotiated resolution of the conflict and to end the Russian occupation of the territory.
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/4o3 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)