CSOs Call for Inclusive Dialogue on Implementation of EU’s Nine Conditions for Georgia
On January 30, the civil society organizations working for the strengthening of democracy and rule of law in Georgia issued a statement concerning the participation of CSOs in the working meeting on the EU’s nine conditions in the Parliament. According to their statement, the undersigned organizations were denied participation in yesterday’s meeting because they are not part of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Platform.
The organizations note that despite leaving the platform, they have been working on the nine conditions for years. After being informed about the planned meeting, some of the CSOs sent letters to the Speaker of the Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, asking to be invited to the table. They asked the Parliament to “expand the format of cooperation with the civil sector and ensure the holding of a broad working format and the participation of interested organizations in it”.
The CSOs were denied the participation. The statement notes: “We believe that taking into account the 9th condition of the European Commission, the Parliament is obliged to ensure a real working process, expand the format of cooperation with the civil sector and give all interested organizations the opportunity to participate in the European integration process of Georgia.”
Shalva Papuashvili confirmed on January 29 that the CSOs were invited to the meeting through the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Platform, which some of the organizations had left. Papuashvili noted that these organizations had sent letters asking to attend the meeting individually, but they were refused and told that if they wanted to participate, they should do so through the platform.
After the meeting, Nino Chkhobadze, representative of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Platform, noted that civil society can’t be represented by the Platform alone. She called for more involvement of civil society organizations in the process of reform implementation and more participation at the level of transparent working groups.
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