EU Ambassador: We hope the work will intensify

EU Ambassador to Georgia Paweł Herczyński addressed several pertinent issues related to Georgia’s EU integration speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the conference Georgia’s Road to the European Union organized by the Parliament of Georgia and the Georgian National Platform of Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum.

Responding to a question on the 12 EU priorities, the Ambassador noted that according to the latest oral update (issued at the end of June) by the European Commission, three out of twelve EU priorities have been implemented. He added that the exact state of play will be assessed in the enlargement reports in a month’s time. He said: “Clearly, progress has been made on some priorities where we had only partial implementation, there are still several weeks left. We hope the work will intensify and as much progress as possible will be made.”

Asked which priorities were of particular importance, he said that all were equally important, but noted that HR Borrell had said during his recent visit to Tbilisi that “we would expect to see progress in particular on de-oligarchisation, with a very concrete action plan that the government should put forward, on judicial reform, on media freedom, and generally as much progress as possible on all reforms”. Paweł Herczyński stressed that the final decision rests with the current 27 EU member states, who will meet at the highest political level of presidents and prime ministers at the end of December, and that the decision will be based on unanimity.

Commenting on the State of the Union speech by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyden he said that she had set out “a very important, visionary way forward, especially for the EU itself.” He also noted that the President put focus on necessary internal reforms within the EU to be well prepared for upcoming enlargement. Herczyński said she was stating the facts when she said that Ukraine, Moldova, and several Western Balkan countries already have status and that Georgia currently has a European perspective, adding: “we hope this process will move forward speedily”.

Asked about the GD’s plan to impeach the President, the Ambassador stressed that as a foreign diplomat he felt he had to be “very careful” not to be perceived as interfering in Georgia’s internal affairs. However, he noted: “: “What we want is for Georgia to be stable, strong country with very strong institutions” adding “of course, impeachment procedure is not what is helping Georgia” to become such a state.” Paweł Herczyński also confirmed that during the recent consultations with President Zurabishvili Georgia’s European integration was the main topic of the meeting with President.

Also Read:

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• 13/09/2023 – Update: President Consults Opposition Parties on EU Integration Process
• 08/09/2023 – EUHR Borrell Holds Meetings in Georgia
• 07/09/2023 – EUHR Borrell: Historic opportunity should not be missed
• 06/09/2023 – Update: President Tours Capitals to Promote EU Candidacy
• 01/08/2023 – Tracking Georgia’s Reforms: An Update on 12 EU Conditionalities’ Implementation

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