Georgia: The Foreign Affairs Ministry of Georgia hosted an inter-agency meeting headed by Teimuraz Janjalia, the Deputy Foreign Minister, to complete the special EU membership questionnaire handed to Georgia by the European Commission on April 11, 2022.
The main agenda of the meeting was to exchange the content of the Questionnaire with other agencies, to define action strategies and discuss the working format. The meeting’s attendees also decided to continue further meetings.
The European Commission will give its opinion on granting the nation candidate status based on the Questionnaire.
The Questionnaire, however, is not yet available to the public.
Moreover, NGOs have sent an open letter to European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi and Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili. They believe that the European Union accession procedure should be open and transparent, and the involvement of civil society in the process is very important.
Representatives from the third sector urge that the Questionnaire handed over to Georgia be made public, as well as the answers provided by the government.
Furthermore, the process of entering the EU, we believe, should be open, transparent, and inclusive. It is critical to guarantee that civic society is involved. We underline the importance of civil society in analyzing the current status of justice in Georgia, as well as the battle against corruption and the human rights situation.
“We believe that the procedure of joining the EU should be open, transparent and inclusive. It is very important to ensure the involvement of civil society in it. We underline the importance of civil society in analyzing the current status of justice in Georgia, as well as the battle against corruption and the human rights situation”, – the statement reads.
The following NGOs signed the joint statement:
- Open Society Foundation
- Partnership for Human Rights
- Democracy Index Georgia
- Law and Policy Research Institute
- Georgian Charter of Journalists
- Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association
- Rights Georgia, Social Justice Center
- Caucasus Open Space
- Center for Social Sciences
- Institute for Tolerance and Diversity
- Sapari Union, International Prison Reform
- International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy
- Prevention for Progress
- Institute for Development of Freedom of Information.
