On March 28, the Democracy Research Institute held a presentation of the Report on Evaluation of Implementation of European Commission’s 12 Priorities. The report reviews Georgia’s work on the implementation of 12 priorities for obtaining the EU candidate country status, evaluates the implementation of each point and addresses related challenges.

 

On June 23, 2022, the European Council approved the decision of the European Commission of June 17, thus instructing Georgia to work on the fulfillment of the 12 priorities in order to receive EU candidate status. The decision of the European Council includes a list of minimum priorities necessary for the strengthening of democratic processes in the country. The European Union sees political polarization as the main problem of the country.

 

On July 1, 2022, the political union of citizens, Georgian Dream, submitted a plan for the fulfillment of the 12 priorities, which was developed by the ruling party without the involvement of the opposition. Georgian Dream did not implement the recommendations of civil society organizations either and started the process of implementation only with its own plan. The part of the parliamentary opposition refused to participate in the implementation of the plan proposed by the ruling party and assessed the Georgian Dream plan as an attempt to waste time. Accordingly, part of the opposition created alternative working groups. The authorities assessed this decision of the opposition as non-fulfillment of the first point (depolarization) of the European Commission.

 

At first glance, at the beginning of the process, the ruling political party was working actively, which was manifested in the creation of working groups in the Parliament of Georgia and legislative changes, however, at the same time, the anti-Western narratives became more intense.

 

The biggest threat to the process of implementation of the recommendations of the European Commission was created by the draft laws initiated by the parliamentary majority (“On Transparency of Foreign Influence" and "On Registration of Foreign Agents"), which resulted in mass protests. Georgian Dream was forced to drop one of the draft laws during the second reading and to withdraw the other one from the legislative body.

As a result of the content analysis and careful observation of the process, the Democracy Research Institute identified several problematic issues:

• Deepening of polarization - the Government escalated relations not only with the opposition, but also with almost the entire civil sector
• Clear demonstration of unwillingness for constructive cooperation with civil society organizations
• Formal character of the draft laws - part of the draft laws initiated in order to fulfill the priorities of the European Union miss the spirit of the recommendations of the European Commission.

Although the ruling party talks about the successful fulfillment of the conditions set by the European Commission, according to the Democracy Research Institute, significant efforts are still needed to fulfill the 12 priorities of the European Commission

Assessment of the Implementation of 12 Priorities of the European Commission