Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-07-04-Speech-3-572-000"
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"en.20120704.31.3-572-000"2
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"Mr President, I sincerely thank all honourable Members who expressed their views on this important issue.
Let me start with a general statement. The European Union is not accepting instrumentalisation of the democratic process in pursuit of other agendas or in order to falsify popular will – anywhere or by anybody.
The European Union believes in free and fair elections and that fair competition and genuine participation in the upcoming elections will be fundamental in achieving the legitimacy of election results. The European Union stresses that politically motivated persecution, direct or indirect, by law enforcement agencies or the use of selective justice against political contenders are not compatible with democratic values.
In this regard the European Union is monitoring and will continue to monitor the situation in Georgia leading up to the elections. It will also monitor the conduct of those elections. The High Representative Baroness Ashton met last week with President Saakashvili. Her services have met with representatives of the Georgian Dream Coalition. Both sides have asked for increased EU involvement, in particular to ensure increased transparency.
The European External Action Service is already doing a lot with the organisation of security and cooperation in Europe, including media monitoring – to which many of you referred during the debate.
However, the European External Action Service is also looking at how it can provide further support to ensure maximum transparency. This could include further monitoring of polling, exit-polling and supporting independent civil society organisations. The European Union embassies have set up a special on-the-spot taskforce led by the EU delegation. So we are watching and we are helping.
Overall our position on Georgia is very clear. We welcome strong European Union-Georgia relations. We have seen good progress on the Eastern Partnership Agenda and on the Association Agreement negotiations and we are delighted that steps towards visa liberalisation are now moving ahead.
There are other strategic interests too. The EU recognises the increasing importance of Georgia as an energy-transit country and appreciates its cooperation in developing the Southern Energy Corridor. The EU also recognises Georgia’s significant contribution to peacekeeping efforts around the globe.
We have seen a lot of positive changes since the Rose Revolution but we need to keep up momentum. This means consolidating democracy, broadening and deepening reform efforts, in particular in the judiciary, the economy and the social sphere, and spreading the benefits of development to marginalised groups. But above all, regional security and democratic evolution are key to securing all the benefits which our association can offer."@en1
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