Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-12-15-Speech-2-266"
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"en.20091215.17.2-266"2
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"Mr President, President-in-Office of the Council, dear future colleague, honourable Members, it is a pleasure to be here. Let me also say it is a delight to have an opportunity again to share views with you on Georgia.
The second area where we need Georgia to deliver is in demonstrating ‘strategic patience’ in the aftermath of the conflict. This is the wording of President Saakashvili himself. As you know, the European Union played a major role in bringing an end to the hostilities, and will continue to work for a durable solution.
We will not waver in our support, as was said, for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia. And we will do all we can through our monitoring mission and mediator role at the Geneva talks to work for a normalisation of the situation.
At the same time, the isolation of the breakaway regions will not help efforts for conflict resolution. On the contrary, a smart policy of engagement with Abkhazia and South Ossetia is needed.
We therefore appreciate the stated Georgian policy of strategic patience, which increasingly recognises the need to maintain links with the breakaway regions without restrictions, in the interest of citizens, and of re-establishing stability in the region.
The Government of Georgia’s efforts to design a state strategy for the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia deserve our support, particularly any effort for closer work in favour of its population.
However, we remain concerned that the Law on Occupied Territories – if too strictly implemented – may unnecessarily increase frictions with the entities and thus complicate the delivery of assistance. The danger is that it will impede economic relations and ensure that steps to normalise day to day contacts cannot take place. In spite of the very good advice from the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission, this law has not yet been amended by Georgia, and we will continue to urge Georgia to make the suggested adjustments.
My third point is that Georgia should actively prepare for negotiations for a new EU-Georgia association agreement in the context of the European and Eastern Partnership. We are not sparing any effort to support Georgia.
Preparations for the establishment of a new legal framework for our bilateral relations are proceeding quite well. We have swiftly prepared the negotiation directives for an EU-Georgia association agreement, which are now currently under discussion in the Council. The draft negotiation directives include the future establishment of a deep and comprehensive free trade area.
We have already presented to Georgia key recommendations for steps to be taken before we can judge the country ready to embark on this area of negotiations. Georgia’s resolve to use the run-up to the negotiations to speed up its own preparations is wise, and I think it is essential that it tackles the key recommendations very actively.
Meanwhile, negotiations on the EU-Georgia visa facilitation and readmission agreements were completed at working level in November, and we are now awaiting final approval on both sides. These agreements are a milestone in our partnership, demonstrating once again the concrete benefits that our closer relationship can bring for the people of Georgia. Enhanced mobility will go hand in hand with enhanced security. I recently signed a joint declaration on a mobility partnership between the European Union and Georgia which now will be completed.
As you are aware, over the last two years, Georgia has been through very difficult times, both externally and internally.
To conclude, we remain deeply committed to supporting Georgia in these difficult times. We are offering new opportunities that can bring tangible benefits to the country and its citizens, but Georgia also has to help itself, and, if it takes good decisions, we will then be there to help every step of the way.
The war with Russia in August last year, which was just mentioned, left wounds across the whole region and Georgia is still struggling with basic issues such as the essential needs for more than 200 000 displaced people, some of them already uprooted since the beginning of the 1990s. And internally, last year’s conflict has increased tensions within Georgia. So disputed elections, for instance, led to months of street protests.
We are doing our utmost to help the country take the necessary steps to resolve the difficulties. First and foremost, the implementation of our pledge of assistance of up to EUR 500 million in support of Georgia’s recovery is being honoured by us. The implementation of the post-conflict assistance package is proceeding well and the living conditions of many have already been improved.
We are keeping our promises, and our very substantial assistance is providing assistance for the resettlement of the IDPs, but also for economic stabilisation and support to Georgia’s infrastructure. In the coming days, the Commission will also release the first tranche of EUR 46 million of macrofinancial assistance in grants to Georgia, another part of this comprehensive package.
However, if we are to succeed in helping Georgia out of its current difficulties, Georgia must also deliver more, in particular, in three areas.
First, Georgia should promote further democratic reforms. Democracy, rule of law, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms are the backbone of our relations with all our eastern partners, and the Georgian President’s statement earlier this year announcing a ‘new wave of democratic reforms’, and stating that Georgia’s response to Russian aggression will be more democracy, more freedom and more progress, was very welcome.
The local elections in Tbilisi in May will be a test of these commitments, and the local elections will be very important as the Tbilisi mayor will be – for the first time – elected by direct suffrage.
This presents a major opportunity for Georgia to restore its citizens’ trust in the electoral process – and one that must be seized, since the shortcomings of the electoral system remain a significant potential source of political instability in Georgia."@en1
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