The Daily Beat: 10 December

• The government said it will send electric power generators to Ukraine. The decision comes after public outcry followed the Ukrainian ambassador’s public declaration that he has been waiting for a response to this request for over a month.  

• Tbilisi City Court won’t hear the case for releasing or postponing the sentence of the former President, Mikheil Saakashvili on health grounds until December 14. The Court said the delay is necessary to ensure inmate’s online attendance. The defense petitioned for release or postponement on December 1.

• The Council of the European Union decided that the EU won’t recognize Russian passports and other travel documents issued in the occupied areas of Ukraine and Georgia. People holding these documents would not be able to cross common EU borders. The decision, controversial for some time for limiting the international mobility of people living under occupation, was finally taken in response to Russia’s ongoing aggression in Ukraine.

• For the second time, the EU granted defense and security aid to Georgia. The Council approved EUR 20 million to support Georgia within the framework of the Common Defense and Security Policy (CSDP). Georgian Defense Ministry said cyber-security was one of the fields of cooperation.

• Marking the International Day Against Corruption on December 9, Transparency International-Georgia, a watchdog, released a statement saying the government took “no effective steps” to combat high-level corruption. TI-Georgia said waning institutions and state capture over the last year remain an important concern.

All work and no play…

• A new survey by the National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat) revealed – unsurprisingly – that women spend nearly five times as long as men doing unpaid domestic services. The survey also shows learning is not life-long: surveyed Georgians that are formally engaged in studies spend close to five hours per day doing so, but this shallows out to less than an hour by the age of 25.