EU: Georgia Failed Third Pledge on Judicial Reform

The European Union said it “regrets that yet another commitment to reform the Judiciary was not upheld today,” after the Georgian Dream backtracked on introducing a 3/5 majority vote for electing the Prosecutor General in a first parliamentary reading. The change was agreed as per the EU-brokered April 19 agreement.

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The statement of the EU Delegation to Georgia highlighted that the withdrawal of the amendment is “a third setback within only two months, in terms of Georgia’s commitments to reform its Judiciary.”

The EU recalled that earlier OSCE/ODIHR assessed the Supreme Court appointments this July, alongside those made over the past two years, as lacking “integrity, objectivity  and credibility.” It added that the last week, the EU noted Georgia’s failure to “sufficiently address” the condition — the court reform — to EUR 75 million aid, which GD preemptively refused.

The European Union also asserted that strengthening the rule of law in Georgia remains of “crucial importance for the effective implementation of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement.”
Reiterating that while the European Union remains fully committed to support Georgia’s reforms in line with the EU-Georgia Association Agreement, the EU said its assistance to Georgia remains conditional on progress on key reforms.

The EU Delegation also stated that during the Georgian Dream’s withdrawal from the 19 April Agreement, they took note of its renewed and public commitment to nevertheless implement the judicial reforms and adopt the initiated constitutional amendments.

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