Rati Bregadze, the Georgian justice minister, on Friday claimed president Salome Zourabichvili’s decision on Thursday to pardon the Mtavari TV head Nika Gvaramia, was not connected with Georgia’s European integration. 

The president’s decision came a day after the European Commission’s oral report on Georgia’s implementing the 12 priorities outlined by it last year for granting the country the EU’s membership candidate status. 

The report said Georgia had fully fulfilled three recommendations, seven conditions were met partially, a “limited progress” was shown on deoligarchisation efforts and “no progress” on media pluralism. 

Pointing to the government’s “effective and a coordinated work” when it came to Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations, Bregadze claimed the authorities were “capable” to fully met all conditions in a “fairly short period or time [even without Gvaramia’s pardon]”. 

“When it comes to European integration, Georgia solves quite a lot of problems in a fairly short period of time. Based on the pace of all agencies working on European integration, I believe that all recommendations will be implemented within the required time frame”, Bregadze said. 

Gvaramia was convicted and sentenced to three years and six months in prison last year for abuse of power while at the helm of Rustavi 2 channel in 2015 and 2019.