European Parliament supports granting Georgia EU candidate status
European Parliament’s resolution on Georgia
The European Parliament has adopted a resolution supporting granting Georgia an EU candidate status. was adopted. However, the resolution also calls on the European Council to consider imposing personal sanctions against Bidzina Ivanishvili.
The European Parliament today, June 9, adopted a joint resolution on violations of media freedom and the safety of journalists in Georgia, initiated by five political groups of the European Parliament.
The exact text of the document has not yet been published, but it is already known that the European Parliament:
- Georgia applies for EU membership – what does it mean?
- The future of Georgia Project: Georgia’s unfinished search for its place in Europe
- expresses concern about the state of the media in Georgia and the significant deterioration in the safety of journalists in recent years. The European Parliament condemns cases of intimidation, threats, and violence against journalists and an increase in the number of criminal cases against media owners;
- condemns the sentence of Nika Gvaramia, director of the opposition Mtavari TV channel, and shares the call of Reporters Without Borders to reconsider the sentence;
- calls on the authorities to effectively investigate the crimes committed by violent groups on July 5, 2021;
- monitors the wiretapping scandal and calls on the authorities to put in place appropriate mechanisms for democratic oversight of how public bodies collect data;
- calls on the Georgian authorities to release former President Mikheil Saakashvili from prison on humanitarian grounds for proper medical treatment.
With this resolution, the European Parliament calls on the EU institutions to work on granting Georgia the status of a candidate member of the EU. However, on the condition that the Georgian government follows the recommendations of the European Parliament.
Interestingly, a similar resolution was adopted by the European Parliament on Ukraine and Moldova, but no conditions were put forward for these countries.
The already adopted resolution was later amended, calling on the European Council and its democratic partners to also consider imposing personal sanctions against Bidzina Ivanishvili.
The European Parliament is concerned about the destructive role of the only oligarch in the country, Bidzina Ivanishvili, in the political and economic life of Georgia. European deputies are also concerned about Ivanishvili’s ties to the Kremlin and the oligarch’s control over the country’s government.
The draft resolution was discussed in the European Parliament yesterday, June 8. “We are disappointed”, “Nika Gvaramia”, “Sanctions”, “Bidzina Ivanishvili”, “July 5”, “Georgia retreated” – these words were often repeated by the European Parliament.
Today, “the most prominent people” are in Georgian prisons, such as the third president Mikheil Saakashvili and Nika Gvaramia, deputy Anna Fotyga said speaking at the European Parliament.
The representative of the Czech Republic, Marketa Gregorova, said that she was disappointed with the involvement of the Georgian government in the persecution of the media.
Freedom of the media is a victim of the Georgian government’s policies, said Andrius Kubilius, a former Lithuanian prime minister and member of the European Parliament.
MEP Miriam Lexmann explicitly demanded the imposition of sanctions against Ivanishvili in order to support Georgia’s European path.
