Tracking Georgia’s Reforms: An Update on 12 EU Conditionalities’ Implementation
Nine civil society organizations, led by the Open Society Georgia Foundation, assessed Georgia’s implementation of the 12 EU conditionalities for EU candidate status. The report says that as of now, one priority is fully implemented (proactive consideration of ECHR judgments), two priorities are mostly fulfilled (fight with organized crime and gender equality and violence against women), seven are partially implemented (electoral and institutional reforms, independent judiciary, anti-corruption measures, media environment, protection of human rights of vulnerable groups, involvement of CSOs in the decision-making process, and independent ombudsman and institution independence of the PD office) and two priorities (de-oligarchization and political de-polarization) are yet to be fulfilled.
The mentioned CSOs regularly evaluate the progress made by Georgia. The fifth edition of their assessment document- EU Candidacy Check covers the period from June 20 to August 1, assessing the current state of play and the steps to be implemented in the future by the authorities to secure the EU candidacy status.
In some directions small progress has been achieved, note the CSOs, such as in the direction of media pluralism (President pardoning the ex-chief of the opposition Mtavari TV Channel Nika Gvaramia, and on CSOs involvement in the decision-making (government having considered some recommendations of the civil society in the process of developing of several draft laws).
The decision of the EU on whether to grant Georgia the EU candidate’s status, which had already been granted to two other associated trio countries – Moldova and Ukraine- is expected to be known in by the end of the year.
The document comprises the assessments of the following organizations: Open Society Georgia Foundation, Democracy Research Institute, Georgian Court Watch, Georgian Democracy Initiative, Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, Governance Monitoring Center, Georgia’s Reforms Associates, Partnership for Human Rights, and Sapari.
Also Read:
- 19/06/2023 – Four Reasons Why Georgia Could Still Get EU Candidate Status
- 20/04/2023- Tracking Georgia’s Reforms: An Analysis of 12 EU Conditionalities
- 11/04/2023 – CSOs Urge Government to Step up Efforts to Secure EU Candidate Status
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