(MENAFN- AzerNews) Pawel Herczynski, the European Union Ambassador to Georgia, on
Saturday said the bloc needed to receive“good news” from Georgia
regarding its progress on the conditions outlined by the EU last
year for granting Tbilisi its membership candidate status, in order
to create a“positive atmosphere” for future relations between the
sides, Azernews reports, citing Agenda.ge.
In his comments to the local media, Herczynski highlighted the
“great progress on some priorities” while noting the bloc was
“waiting for results on others”.
The Ambassador also made comments on the domestic
deoligarchisation bill, which was adopted in its second reading
earlier this week, a day after the Venice Commission of the Council
of Europe recommended the Georgian authorities to drop the
legislative piece.
The Commission said the bill was using a“personalised”, instead
of“systemic”, approach to curbing oligarchic influence on the
domestic politics, and called on the country's authorities to
instead implement a wide range of systemic reforms to prevent
concentration of power in the hands of wealthy individuals.
Herczynski said the European Commission agreed with the Venice
Commission in recommending a“transparent, responsible approach”
and a“systematic” approach on oligarchs, adding he“sincerely
hoped” the Georgian political elite would also choose this approach
to fulfil the EU priorities.
His comments followed claims by Irakli Kobakhidze, the ruling
Georgian Dream party head, who on Wednesday said the opinions of
the Venice Commission and the European Commission on the Georgian
bill“contradict each other”.
Kobakhidze said the European Commission's condition on the
matter had urged the Georgian authorities to“implement the
commitment to deoligarchisation by eliminating the excessive
influence of vested interests in economic, political, and public
life”, which he said implied a“personalised and not systemic
approach” to the problem, in an alleged contradiction to the Venice
Commission's opinion.
The Georgian Dream party pledged it would drop the bill after
its final approval if the European Commission removed the
requirement on deoligarchisation from its conditions for granting
the country its membership candidate status by December.
In its remarks on Wednesday, the EU representation in Georgia
urged the country's authorities to follow the Venice Commission's
recommendations against adopting the bill, and expressed the bloc's
readiness to support the country's Government to find a“better way
forward with a systemic approach”.
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