Parliament’s work on EU candidacy conditions “practically complete” – European Integration Committee Chair in Brussels

Maka Botchorishvili, the Chair of the European Integration Committee in the Georgian Parliament, on Thursday told European colleagues the legislative body’s work on the implementation of the 12-point conditions outlined by the European Union last year for granting Georgia its membership candidate status had been “practically complete”. The ruling party lawmaker highlighted the importance of an “active communication” with the bloc ahead of the European Commission’s report on Georgia’s implementation of the conditions in October, which will be used by the European Council in December to decide on the country’s status. 

 

Botchorishvili, along with her deputy Levan Karumidze, has been scheduled to brief Belgian, Spanish, Lithuanian and Hungarian MPs about the Government’s work on the reform agenda, the Parliament press office said. 

 

In an interim report in June, Oliver Varhelyi, the Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement, said Georgia had fully completed three of 12 recommendations, partially met seven conditions, demonstrated limited progress on de-oligarchization, and had made no progress for media pluralism.

 

Reacting to the statement, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili claimed part of his body’s work had not been reflected in the oral report, and pledged an “active communication” with the bloc the final report to include all efforts. 

 

Georgia applied for EU membership in March 2022 and was granted a European perspective in June of that year, along with a reform agenda to obtain the candidate status later.