EU Ambassador to Georgia, Carl Hartzell, Wednesday said recent report published on European Parliament’s website on Georgia’s Association Agreement implementation “is not a product of the European Parliament but written by the research centre of the European Parliament which means the conclusions of this report stand for the authors of it.”

Ambassador Hartzell claims “its purpose is to help members of the European Parliament and its stuff to assess the situation in Georgia.”

“When it comes to many of the topics have been raised in this report about political polarization, polarization in media, questions about justice reform, election, democratic institutions and so on, you will be familiar that the issues that have been raised also by official Brussels, by myself here. I see it very clearly that these are issues which discussion will continue with the Georgian authorities. These are important aspects as part of Georgia’s EU membership application,”  Carl Hartzell stated.

A new assessment of the implementation the Association Agreement (AA) between the EU and Georgia, reads that “since April 2020, Georgia has seriously backslided with respect to the basic democratic principles and key political commitments it made as part of the AA.”

It continued: “In a context of sharp political polarisation, democratic institutions have gradually been hollowed out of their substance and the ruling coalition increasingly concentrates power in its hands, while also restricting space for dissent. The rule of law has significantly deteriorated, as evidenced by the detention of high-profile opposition leaders, the lack of effective investigation into the June 2019/July 2021 violent incidents and the decision to abolish the State Inspector Service.”