EU Ambassador Welcomes UNM Signing April 19 Deal

“It is never too late to sign up to what is, essentially, an important roadmap for democratic reforms,” said EU Ambassador to Georgia, Carl Hartzell after UNM MPs signed today EU-brokered April 19 agreement after months long hesitation.

“This means now that 147 out of 150 elected Members of the Georgian Parliament have, at one stage or another, supported this agreement and all of its contents,” Ambassador Hartzell continued, adding that “arguably it is not too late either to recommit to it,” referring to the ruling Georgian Dream party’s withdrawal from the deal on July 28.

He said the European Union believes that the full implementation of all reforms envisaged in this agreement is in Georgia’s national interest.

The United National Movement, Georgia’s largest opposition party, yesterday announced its decision to sign the EU-mediated post-election crisis deal, a day after the Georgian Dream government preemptively refused the EU loan conditioned on the commitment to court reform and April 19 deal.

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