The signatory organizations agree with the plan approved by the Government to implement the steps outlined for Georgia by the European Commission. We believe that the approval of the action plan is a positive step, and it should contribute to greater openness and accountability of the Government. However, we regret that the presented plan was developed without proper involvement, and its content needs clarification in many directions.
After granting Georgia the status of a candidate country for EU membership on December 14, 2023, the European Commission outlined nine priority steps for reforms, after which negotiations on Georgia’s EU membership will be opened. To implement the EC’s nine priority steps, the Government of Georgia developed an action plan, which was published only on December 25, although the mentioned document was approved by the Government Commission for European Integration on November 27.
The development of the action plan is an important step that is expected to inspire confidence in the process among the civil society, the political spectrum and the international community. Unfortunately, civil organizations and opposition parties were not even minimally involved in the process of developing and approving the action plan. Whereas the involvement of civil society in the decision-making process is among the priorities of the European Commission. Indeed, the action plan was sent to the European Commission prior to its publication, but the public still doesn’t know what type of communication/feedback was from the European Commission and whether the Georgian side took into account the Commission’s recommendations (if any). This issue is particularly noteworthy in light of the fact that the Government has sent the already approved document to the European Commission.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that institutionally the action plan has been approved by the Government, while a number of measures/actions described in it fall under the mandate of the Parliament (although a representative of the European Integration Committee of the Georgian Parliament attends the meetings of the Commission of Georgia on EU Integration, but without the right to vote). Developing/approving the action plan in this way ignores the balance between the branches of government and diminishes the role of the Parliament in the process of determining the core directions of the country’s domestic and foreign policy. We believe that the action plan should have been developed if not by the Parliament, then at least with its active involvement, although the public doesn’t know how actively the legislative body was involved in developing the action plan.
As for the content of the document – we understand that the action plan cannot cover all the details and scrutinize all the steps planned in each direction. However, at the same time, it should create specific frameworks and expectations for both process and content. Unfortunately, in this regard, the document of the action plan is quite general and does not contain existing or target indicators, and its content isn’t in full concord with the EC’s recommendations.
Taking all the above into account, we urge the Georgian Government to ensure participation, dialogue and openness in its policies/approaches in the process of implementing the European Commission’s recommendations. At the same time, the authorities need to acknowledge the challenges/problems in certain directions and take real steps to address them in accordance with the recommendations of the European Commission, the Venice Commission and the OSCE.
Signatory organizations:
Civil Society Foundation
Social Justice Center
Union “Sapari”
Georgian Court Watch
Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA)
International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED)
Georgian Democracy Initiative (GDI)
Governance Monitoring Center (GMC)
Democracy Research Institute (DRI)
Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI)
