On 12 April, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted inter-agency consultations led by the Deputy Foreign Minister, Teimuraz Janjalia, to complete the special EU membership questionnaire handed to Georgia by the European Commission on 11 April 2022.
The purpose of the meeting was to share the content of the questionnaire with various agencies, to define action plans and discuss the working format. The participants of the meeting agreed to continue the meetings.
Based on the Questionnaire, the European Commission will deliver its opinion on granting the country candidate status.
However, the questionnaire is not public yet.
The non-governmental organizations have addressed the European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi and Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili with an open letter. They believe that the EU accession process should be open, transparent and that it is important to ensure the involvement of civil society in this process.
Representatives of the third sector demand that the questionnaire handed over to Georgia and the answers submitted by the Government be made public.
"We believe that the process of joining the European Union should be open, transparent and inclusive. It is important to ensure the involvement of civil society in it. We emphasize that civil society has valuable experience in assessing the current state of justice, the fight against corruption and human rights situation in Georgia”, - the statement reads.
The joint statement was signed by the following NGOs:
Open Society Foundation, Partnership for Human Rights, Democracy Index Georgia, Law and Policy Research Institute, Georgian Charter of Journalists, Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, Rights Georgia, Social Justice Center, Caucasus Open Space, Center for Social Sciences, Institute for Tolerance and Diversity, Sapari Union, International Prison Reform, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, Prevention for Progress, Institute for Development of Freedom of Information.
