EU Commission to recommend Georgia’s candidacy with 9 conditions – source

Sources told Radio Liberty on Wednesday the European Commission plans later today to recommend the European Council to grant Georgia the European Union membership candidate  status in December with nine conditions, with several of them representing new conditions, while others are the continuation of the 12-point reform agenda outlined by the bloc last year for granting Georgia the status. 

 

A new reservation could be the fight against disinformation and “foreign information manipulation” about the EU and its values, as well as bringing Georgia’s foreign and security policy closer to the bloc’s stance, the media outlet said. 

 

Currently, Georgia’s rate of compliance with the foreign and security policy of the EU is about 43%, when it exceeded 60% a couple of years ago. The indicators of Moldova and Ukraine are much higher.

 

According to Radio Liberty, the following will be transferred from recommendations to reservations:

 

Overcoming political polarisation;

 

The condition for holding fair elections – especially in the context of the 2024 parliamentary elections;

 

Improvement of institutional independence and impartiality in the country – and together with the CEC, the National Bank and the National Communications Regulatory Commission will be added to the list;Judicial reform;

 

Fight against corruption;

 

De-oligarchization;

 

Protection of human rights, rights of minorities, media and civil activists.

 

The European Commission should announce the official decision on the status at 15:00 Georgian time. The European Council will take the final decision on granting the status in December.