MPs Assess Meeting with EUHR Borrell

On September 8, EU High Representative Josep Borrell met with the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, members of the parliamentary majority and the parliamentary opposition during his working visit to Georgia.

• 08/09/2023 – EUHR Borrell Holds Meetings in Georgia

Civil.ge has compiled the comments by the Members of Parliament regarding the meeting with the HR.

Comment of the Parliament Speaker

Shalva Papuashvili, Speaker of the Parliament: “Of course, we talked about the European perspective. On the one hand, it was said that it is important for Georgia to comply with the recommendations, and on the other hand, it was said that it is important for the decision of the European Union to be based on merit and to be fair. We emphasized that it is important for us that in the official documents of the European Union establish the term “occupation” instead of different terminology regarding Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region, because it is important to call everything by its proper name… The opposition also raised the question of the candidate status. Meanwhile, the so-called terminological separation of people and government…which unfortunately we hear from the radical opposition in Georgia and from some MEPs and European politicians was emphasized as absolutely unacceptable for the European Union. I have said this on other occasions and I am convinced that this is how the radical part of the opposition is lobbying for the candidate status… [The opposition states that] despite the facts that our country is not good, that our court system is not good, that our police is not good, nothing is good in our country, [the EU should] give us the candidate status. I do not know what kind of lobbying this is…”.

Shalva Papuashvili in the conversation with journalists, also mentioned the so-called the de-oligarchization draft plan, the existence of which became known after the meeting and which was raised during the MPs meeting with HR Borrell. According to him the plan has been approved by a commission headed by the PM and will be adopted in the near future.

Reaction of the opposition

Tina Bokuchava, the United National Movement: “The High Representative also spoke about the fact that the foreign policy of the current government is not aligned with the foreign policy of the European Union in many directions and gave specific examples, such as the resumption of flights with Russia.”

Khatia Dekanoidze, political group “Euro-optimists”: “It was a difficult meeting and the issue of Georgia’s implementation of the recommendations was discussed very specifically and in detail. Georgia’s place is in Europe. The current government is creating an obstacle for granting us candidate status. Mr. Borrell mentioned… that first of all, of course, the foreign policy of the European Union and Georgia must be in full alignment… then it’s about the systemic approach to the deoligarchization, electoral code [reform] and the law on common courts”.

Davit Usupashvili, Lelo – Partnership for Georgia: “Mr. Borrell made it clear that Europe’s door is open. He came here to help Georgia and to say that only a small part of the recommendations has been fully implemented. The rest needs serious work, but there is enough time… I think that the government representatives understood part of it, and on the other issues were busy explaining how Europe should be changed to be worthy of Georgia. The good news is that the opposition was united in the fact that Georgia should get the candidate status … Today we learned that the government has handed over to the representatives of the European Union a 7-point action plan on a systemic approach, how to eliminate oligarchic systems in Georgia, etc.”

Beka Liluashvili, For Georgia: “It was quite difficult meeting for the Georgian Dream. This is because the need to implement the recommendations was emphasized. It was confirmed once again that the narrative created by Georgian Dream that all the recommendations have been fulfilled cannot deceive anyone. Critical attention was paid to three issues… this is the issue of de-oligarchization, judicial reform and electoral reform. Georgian Dream had a very inappropriate tone, in my opinion, I just do not know what to call it, whether it was intentional …”

Khatuna Samnidze, “Reform Group”: “It was emphasized that Georgia is behind the [implementation] plan, and this is the responsibility of the government, but there is still time and it is necessary to use this time effectively. This was the main message, the messages were quite strict, clear, and it was emphasized that our European partners want Georgia to be a member of the European family.”

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