Georgia’s PM Meets President of European Council
BRUSSELS - The Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) between Georgia and the European Union (EU), Georgia’s October parliamentary elections and reforms implemented in the country were the top issues of Thursday afternoon’s meeting between Georgia’s Prime Minister, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, and the President of the Council of Europe (COE), Donald Tusk, in Brussels, Belgium.
The COE President congratulated Kvirikashvili on successfully completing Georgia’s parliamentary elections and noted that the elections were essential for the democratic development of the country.
Moreover, Tusk positively assessed Georgia’s reforms, implemented within the EU-Georgia Association Agreement (AA) and DCFTA. He noted that these reforms would deepen EU-Georgia relations.
“I also want to thank Georgia for being a strong partner in the Eastern Partnership. I look forward to setting further common objectives for this cooperation at our next Eastern Partnership Summit in November 2017,” COE high Official noted.
Donald Tusk thanked Georgia for its continued contributions to the EU crisis management operations and for assisting EU in advancing foreign and security policy objectives.
He also underlined that Georgia had met all required benchmarks under the Visa Liberalization Action Plan (VLAP) and the EU was doing its best to timely agree on a suspension mechanism in order to finalize the process soon.
“Georgia deserves a timely and positive finalization of the visa-liberalization issue,” he added.
While discussing regional issues, Tusk expressed concern over the recent ratification of the so-called agreement between Russia and Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia on military cooperation.
“For the EU it is clear that this agreement violates international law, including the principle of the inviolability of Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. The agreement with Abkhazia has no legal status for the EU,” he stressed, adding that the EU would remain firm in its support of the territorial integrity of Georgia.
Giorgi Kvirikashvili thanked the COE President for his support and assistance and noted that the commitments of the Georgian government remained unchanged – to continue intensive and targeted reforms in order to bring Georgia closer to EU norms and standards.
Georgia's PM mentioned the recently released EU reform, which said that Georgia had achieved significant progress in terms of political association and economic integration.
“We have concrete achievements in consolidating democracy, strengthening the rule of law and judicial independence, protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, stabilization and economic growth, and increased investments and trade with the EU,” he said.
Kvirikashvili also underlined that, as Georgia had successfully fulfilled all the requirements, he expected the EU would soon introduce a short-term visa free travel regime for citizens of Georgia.
On December 1, Kvirikashvili met Dimitris Avramopoulos, the EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship.
Reforms implemented in the process of EU visa liberalization and steps taken by Georgia toward modernizing the migration policy were discussed as the main topics of the meeting.
Avramopoulos reiterated his support and expressed hope that Georgian citizens would be able to enjoy visa-free travel in the European Union in the near future.
It was noted that under the VLAP, Georgia had implemented immigration and emigration control reforms, while also adopting the Law on the Protection of Personal Data and the Migration Strategy and Action Plan.
The parties emphasized the importance of the new Association Agenda for 2017-2020, new opportunities for closer relations between the EU and Georgia, and prospects of deepening ties in migration and security issues.
By Thea Morrison