Pawel Herczynski, EU Ambassador to Georgia said he was glad that the Georgian government started work on the implementation of nine steps identified by the European Commission “immediately” by drafting an action plan.

“European Commission, while giving a positive recommendation for Georgia to receive candidate status, also has identified nine steps. Those nine steps, hopefully together with candidate status, will be confirmed by EU heads of state and government on the 14th and 15th of December.

I’m really happy that there is already an action plan drafted by the government. This is being consulted now with the European Commission. All these steps are equally important. Some of them are similar to the previous 12 priorities, those priorities that are still working in progress. Others are new, like fighting disinformation and foreign information manipulation, like the alignment of Georgia with the European Union’s foreign and security policy, like free and fair electoral process. All those steps are equally important, and I’m really glad that the work has started immediately on the implementation of those nine steps, even before those steps are hopefully to be confirmed by the heads of state and government in the middle of December,” he said.

The European Integration Commission meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on November 27, approved an action plan for the EC’s recommendations fulfillment. Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili said the government would continue work with European partners according to this plan.