Ambassador Herczyński: EU enlargement report is last wake-up call for Georgia to reverse to EU path

“It was the Georgian authorities who decided to apply for EU membership in March 2022. It was the European Union that granted Georgia the status of a candidate country in December 2023, and it is for Georgia to decide on its laws. Georgia is an independent country; it can have any laws that it wants. But it is my role, it is our role as the European Union, to tell Georgians which laws are not compatible with the EU acquis,” EU Ambassador to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński, stated.

According to the Ambassador, the June 2024 European Council conclusion was the first wake-up call for Georgia.

“In spring 2024, we have been saying loud and clear, please do not adopt foreign agents legislation, which is called the Law on Transparency, because this will have consequences.

And in fact, in June 2024, as a result of adoption by the Georgian Parliament of this law, the European Council took a decision to de facto hold Georgia’s accession, asking Georgian authorities to reverse the course.

The June 2024 European Council conclusion was the first wake-up call. Last week, we had the final, probably the final wake-up call, in the form of the enlargement report, which was devastating for Georgia’s aspirations to join the European Union.

I sincerely hope that it’ll take less than 18 months for Georgian parliamentarians to learn and to take action. Because if Georgia and the Georgian authorities are serious about ever joining the European Union, they urgently need to reverse the course and go back to the EU integration track,” the EU Ambassador stated.