European Parliament calls on international community to take a consistent, coordinated, united and firm stance against Russia’s occupation and annexation policy

The European Parliament reiterates the fact that the EU’s position on Georgia’s constitutional reform coincides with the Venice Commission’s overall positive assessment, but it regrets the postponement of the implementation of a fully proportional electoral system until 2024, - reads the draft report on the implementation of the EU Association Agreement with Georgia, which is to be brought to a vote at the plenary sitting today.

The European Parliament reiterates its readiness to observe future elections in Georgia and to assist the Georgian authorities in following up on and implementing the recommendations that will be presented; reiterates that the composition of the Central Election Commission should be free from political influence and that the pre-election period should be free from any misuse of administrative resources; calls on the Georgian authorities to conduct a meaningful investigation into the politically motivated violent incidents during the 2016 parliamentary elections.

The European Parliament supports the democratic strengthening of Georgia’s political institutions and is dedicated to assisting in this area; notes that Georgia is among the few countries where all branches of power are involved in the Open Governance Partnership; underlines the importance of pursuing an ambitious reform agenda aimed at the political neutrality of state institutions and their staff; stresses the role of the opposition in a parliamentary system and stresses the urgent need to put in place more rigorous mechanisms for scrutinising the executive, including through the ability of Members of Parliament to put questions to ministers and the Prime Minister on a regular basis in order to hold them accountable;

The draft report welcomes the effective implementation of the visa-free regime for Georgian citizens since 27 March 2017; takes note of Georgia’s compliance with visa liberalisation benchmarks and encourages regular monitoring thereof in order to ensure continued compliance; notes that the introduction of visa-free regimes brings positive results in terms of the development of people-to-people contacts; commends Georgia on the measures taken to promptly address violations of the visa-free regime, and calls on EU Member States to recognise Georgia as a safe country of origin; stresses the importance of stepping up the cooperation between the judicial authorities and the enforcement agencies of Georgia and the EU Member States.

The European Parliament expresses support for Georgia in its pursuit of a policy of peaceful conflict resolution, reconciliation and engagement and its constructive participation in the Geneva International Discussions; welcomes the Georgian efforts to maintain dialogue with Russia; praises the initiative entitled ‘A Step to a Better Future’, presented on 4 April 2018, aimed at improving the humanitarian and socio-economic conditions of populations residing in occupied regions and fostering people-to-people contact and confidence building between divided communities; Recalls with regret that after 10 years, the Russian Federation is still continuing its illegal occupation of Georgian territories, and reiterates its unequivocal support for the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Georgia; takes note of Georgia’s European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) lawsuit against Russia on the use of coercive measures against people living in Abkhazia and South Ossetia and of the adoption by the Georgian Parliament of a resolution establishing the Otkhozoria-Tatunashvili blacklist of people convicted of or under investigation for murder, kidnapping, torture or inhuman treatment; stresses that the international community must take a consistent, coordinated, united and firm stance against Russia’s occupation and annexation policy.

The European Parliament urges the Georgian authorities to make further efforts to overcome the existing obstacles and to try to extend the benefits of the AA and the DCFTA to the populations of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia by improving communication about the new opportunities stemming from the agreement and developing ad hoc trade and economic cooperation projects at local level.

The report commends Georgia’s continued participation in civilian and military crisis management operations under the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP); stresses the need to further develop high-level dialogue on security issues between the EU and Georgia, particularly on countering radicalisation, violent extremism, propaganda and hybrid threats.

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