Georgia has fulfilled only three of the 12 priorities set by the European Commission, said today Oliver Varhelyi, European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement.

“As for Georgia, in the case of which 12 priorities were defined, in the opinion presented in June, we see that 3 of them have been fulfilled: first, it is gender equality and the fight against violence against women. The second is to consider the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. The third is to appoint a public defender through a transparent process.

In addition, Georgia has achieved certain progress in 7 other directions - among them, in the direction of political polarization, in the direction of the full functioning of state institutions and in the direction of further improvement of the electoral environment, in terms of adopting and implementing a strategy of transparent and effective judicial reforms, in terms of strengthening the independence of the anti-corruption agency and fight against organized crime, in the direction of strengthening the protection of human rights of vulnerable groups and ensuring the participation of civil organizations in the decision-making process.

Georgia has achieved limited progress in the direction of de-oligarchization. In this regard, the Venice Commission, in its last recommendation published in June, once again stated that the draft law should not be adopted in its current form, and therefore I welcome the statement made by the ruling party yesterday and the day before yesterday that this draft law will not be adopted. Georgia should now focus on adopting a law that will establish a systemic approach in line with the recommendations of the Venice Commission, including strengthening competition policy and political party funding rules.

As for the standards of media pluralism and legal procedures against media owners, Georgia has not achieved any progress. In order to comply with this point, Georgia should make changes to the Law on Broadcasting in accordance with the opinion of the European Council and should ensure the safety of journalists, as well as increase the safety and freedom of both journalists and owners of media organizations”, - said Oliver Varhelyi.