Georgia: The non-governmental organizations are addressing the Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and demanding the publication of the answers to the EU questionnaire.
As per the sources, the statement is signed by 30 non-governmental organizations.
On April 29, 2022, the Georgian government refused to publish the answers to the EU questionnaire on behalf of the country. According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, the answers contain questions that should not be made public.
According to Georgian law, public information may be kept confidential only if it is a professional, personal, commercial or state secret.
Given the high public interest in Georgia’s accession to the European Union, we urge you to make public the answers to the EU questionnaire, or to present an argument on the basis of which you make information confidential under Georgian law. In case the information provided to the EU does contain professional, personal, commercial or state secrets, the relevant parts should be encrypted and the rest should be made public, as required by the Georgian and EU Freedom of Information Standards.
According to a recent survey, 88% of the Georgian population supports the country’s accession to the European Union.
“With this in mind, the government must ensure the transparency, openness and involvement of stakeholders in the process,” the statement said.
Signatory organizations:Â
- Open Society Georgia
- Transparency International Georgia
- Georgian Democratic Initiative
- Media Development Foundation
- Atlantic Council of Georgia
- Governance Monitoring Center
- Institute for the Study of Democracy
- Rights Georgia
- Civic idea
- European-Georgian Institute
- Democracy Index Georgia
- Economic Policy Research Center
- International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy
- Center for Social Justice
- Green Alternative
- European Foundation
- Georgian Center for Strategy and Development
- Georgian Institute for Strategic Studies
- Georgian Policy Institute
- Eastern European Center for Multiparty Democracy
- Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development
- Institute for Development of Freedom of Information
- Georgian Reform Association
- Liberal Academy Tbilisi
- Center for Social Sciences
- Partnership for Human Rights
- Feedback cover
- International Prison Reform
- Institute for Tolerance and Diversity
- Open space Caucasus
Moreover, the Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili handed over the first part of the questionnaire to the EU Ambassador Carl Hartzel today .
Georgia applied for EU membership on March 3, and the EU membership questionnaire was handed over to Georgia on April 11.Â
The questionnaire is an official document used by the EU in the country assessment process. A candidate country may be sent thousands of questions that require complex answers. Questions involved in document are about the human rights situation in the country, reforms, education, culture, agriculture and many other areas.