EU Ambassador: Foreign Agents Law Would Make Positive EC Assessment ‘ Very Difficult’
The EU Ambassador to Georgia Paweł Herczyński said “time is running short” and Georgia should implement all nine steps defined by the European Commission “as quickly as possible.” The Ambassador also commented on the re-tabled Foreign Agents Bill, saying “simply this law is not okay. He said: “This is not a European law. This is not American law” and stressed that it is “incompatible with the EU norms and values.”
In his remarks to the media at the CSO event assessing the implementation of the 9 steps, the Ambassador noted that whether the European Commission recommendation to open accession negotiations will be positive or negative “only depends on how quickly and how decisively the nine steps will be implemented in Georgia.”
According to Ambassador Herczyński, “reforms are absolutely necessary” for the country to be a part of the EU’s next enlargement. “It is in the hands of Georgian political elite,” the Ambassador said, expressing hope that the upcoming Parliamentary elections will not distract moving forward with the reforms.
In the same remarks, he also noted that the adoption of the Foreign Agents law would make it “very difficult for the European Commission to make a positive assessment…” “I also understand that there are other ways to ensure transparency, and we are all in favor of transparency. But this should not be done at the expense of limiting possibility of very good, very important and essential work that civil society organizations are doing to the benefit of Georgia.”
According the EU Ambassador, the EU made “a historic decision” by opening its door to welcome Georgia as a full-member. “I sincerely hope, as expressed by the vast majority of Georgian population, that Georgia again will be a frontrunner and Georgia will be part of the next enlargement,” the Ambassador said.
Also Read:
- 11/04/2024 – EU Political and Security Committee Visits Georgia
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)
