“Addressing political polarisation is, in fact, the third of the 9 steps that Georgia needs to address before accession negotiations can be opened. Polarisation is a result of lack of dialogue,” said Asunción Sánchez Ruiz, Deputy Head of the EU Mission to Georgia, answering questions of Georgian citizens through the social media.

According to Asunción Sánchez Ruiz, EU constantly calls on political leaders to engage constructively to end polarization.

“The EU is well aware that political polarisation is a serious concern to the people of Georgia. Many of you have asked about the current political climate in Georgia. Addressing political polarisation is, in fact, the third of the 9 steps that Georgia needs to address before accession negotiations can be opened. Polarisation is a result of lack of dialogue.

The EU has been consistently calling for all political leaders – the ruling party and the opposition – to engage constructively to end polarisation. There is a political consensus in favour of Georgia’s EU path, so it is a matter of agreeing on how to achieve that national goal. And our experience with those countries that have already joined the EU is that it can go quicker when there is a national consensus on the reforms necessary to join the EU.

Looking at the 9 steps, each of them, if fulfilled, leads to depolarisation: from improving the electoral process and parliamentary oversight, to fighting disinformation and ensuring fundamental rights such as freedom of assembly and expression. All these steps need to be implemented for Georgia to move ahead in the enlargement process. We trust that the whole society take this task seriously,” she said.