European Commission 2022 report more critical to Georgia – IDFI

The European Commission 2022 report to Georgia is more critical than the same report of the last year, saying that the degree of democratisation, the rule of law and media environment has suffered a significant setback in the country, the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) said on Monday. 

“It should be emphasised that compared to the previous year’s report of the European Commission, the list of areas in which the European Commission saw significant problems has increased significantly. For example, the European Commission noted that Georgia has experienced significant setbacks in the key issues of the rule of law and human rights protection. In comparison, the 2021 report indicated that in the field of human rights, Georgia continued to actively approach EU legislation”, said the NGO.

The NGO said that the European future was the choice of the Georgian people and the will was reflected in the Georgian constitution. 

“Legislative and executive authorities should act in this spirit. Unfortunately, in 2021, the Government took a number of steps that significantly delayed the European integration process. It should be noted that this process has not been stopped yet, not even in light of the prerequisites for obtaining EU candidate status”, IDFI said. 

Georgia received the European Perspective in June from the European Council and several months to address judiciary and other issues to obtain EU candidate status next year.