The European Parliament (EP) on December 14 adopted an annual report on the implementation of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement (AA) with 430 votes pro and 52 con.

The report comprises several amendments as recommendations.

Amendment 2 underlines the need to eliminate the excessive influence of vested interests in economic, political and public life as one of the priorities identified by the Commission to be addressed before Georgia is granted candidate status; recommends addressing the excessive influence of vested interests, notably of the oligarch and former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, in a systemic way through structural and regulatory reforms in various areas of the country’s political, economic and public life;

The sixth amendment to the resolution, authored by MEP Miriam Lexmann, states that personal sanctions should be imposed on Ivanishvili and all those people who are responsible for the deterioration of democratic processes.

The EP is concerned about reports that Russian people and entities are allegedly using Georgia to bypass Western sanctions; calls for the EU institutions to further examine these allegations, in particular various reports, including one by the Ukrainian National Agency on Corruption Prevention, about Bidzina Ivanishvili’s ties to Russia; should these allegations be confirmed, calls for personal sanctions to be introduced against him and his closest associates; recalls that members of Ivanishvili’s family and his close associates have been sanctioned by Ukraine for their links to the Kremlin, which are behind the ambiguous position of the current Government of Georgia towards Russia; welcomes, in this regard, the adoption of the eighth package of sanctions against Russia, which includes a new listing criterion which will allow the EU to sanction persons who facilitate infringements of the prohibition against the circumvention of sanctions;

The EP expresses its deep concern about the rapidly deteriorating health condition of former President Mikheil Saakashvili, including suspected heavy metal poisoning, as described by a group of international doctors in a report published on 1 December 2022; reiterates its call on the Georgian authorities to release former President Mikheil Saakashvili and allow him to receive proper medical treatment abroad on humanitarian grounds and as a means of reducing political polarisation;

The report calls on the Georgian authorities to stop politically motivated criminal cases and to review the ongoing criminal cases against media workers, owners of media outlets critical of the government, and their close family members; expresses its deep concern about the fact that on 2 November 2022, the Tbilisi Court of Appeals upheld the sentencing of Mtavari Arkhi Director Nika Gvaramia on dubious charges despite the significant questions raised about the case, in particular, its timing and charges; invites the President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, to pardon Nika Gvaramia.