EU places strong emphasis on Georgian civil society in enlargement process, analyst

The European Union places significant importance on the views of Georgia’s civil society when assessing the country’s progress towards integration, Gigi Gigiadze, senior researcher at the Economic Policy Research Center, said on Monday. 

He claimed that civil society played a “crucial role” in Georgia’s EU integration process.

“This means that, first and foremost, the opinion of Georgia’s civil society is very important for the European Union,” he said, adding that assessments and statements from the sector carried “decisive significance” in shaping Brussels’ understanding of developments in the country.

Gigiadze further noted the European Union consistently paid close attention to how civil society evaluates the state of EU-Georgia relations.

His comments come as the EU prepares Georgia’s 2026 annual report under the enlargement package, a key document assessing candidate countries’ progress. 

As part of the process, the EU delegation has invited civil society organisations to contribute to the assessment.