Georgia’s road to the EU is too far
in 2022 European Union (EU) Ukrainetaking an unprecedented step towards the accession of Georgia and Moldova to the blocEurope perspective” presented. Russia After the full-scale war against Ukraine began in February, these three countries officially applied for membership in the bloc. Brussels revealed that the trio could one day become members of the club. Ukraine and Moldova received candidate status, but Georgia was given the title of potential candidate.
Rikar Jozwiak, an employee of Azad Europe/Radio Liberty, writes that the trio is currently diligently implementing the recommendations of Brussels, especially in the field of justice. Europe The commission’s interim evaluation this spring is positive, and the expansion reports expected in the fall may also be encouraging. But the Commission Kyiv and it is too early to say whether it will start accession talks with Chisinau or recommend candidate status for Georgia.
In the end, the support of 27 members of the EU will be needed for this step in December. This may seem like a difficult task, but it is currently changing rapidly in Europe political it may not be completely imaginary considering the environment, the article says.
In January, the second part of the opinion of the European Commission on Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine will be published. Released in June political if it was the criteria, the “bureaucratic remains” expected in January are considered. In fact, this is the “homework” that the three countries should do on their way to EU membership.
32 in the draft document seen by Radio Liberty political the field is analyzed, the compliance of a country’s legislation with EU laws is examined. In each section, the situation is evaluated according to five stages: “initial stage”, “certain preparedness level”, “medium well prepared”, “good preparedness level”, “well advanced” situation.
None of the three countries is “well advanced” in any of the 32 areas, Jozwiak writes. Ukraine reached the second evaluation from the top in two sections – “good preparation level”. Both are related to foreign policy. Georgia and Moldova are expected to receive this price in one field each.
It is noted that the state of most areas in Ukraine is at a “certain level of readiness”. In Moldova, the situation is even worse, with 16 areas in the lowest “preliminary stage” category.
Unlike the other two countries, Georgia, which is not considered a candidate country, is expected to receive an “average well-prepared” grade in 8 areas, and this is a great indicator compared to Ukraine and Moldova.
The most obvious explanation for this is that Georgia is doing well in the economic and financial spheres, and in the last decade governments have tried to bring the economy closer to the west.
This is not the case in Ukraine and Moldova. Or the good administrative and bureaucratic ability of Georgia is not observed in Moldova.
However, it should be emphasized once again that the document expected to be published in January is the second part of the general opinion. In the first one – in the justice and fundamental rights section, Georgia was third. In other words, even if Tbilisi does not approach EU laws in many areas, it still lags behind the other two countries on the way to Brussels.
Jozwiak writes that this road will be long. Kyiv and governments in Chisinau may have enormous political will to reform the legislation and bring it into line with the EU. But much of what is required to begin negotiations can take years to implement.
In addition, it is possible that the desire of EU members to accept these countries will decrease. Each of them must give the green light to open and close membership negotiations. And they often think about the domestic audience and the number of votes of their political parties rather than the situation in the candidate countries.
Meanwhile, it is important to remember the “pioneers” of the EU enlargement campaign, the Western Balkans, Montenegro and Serbia. For more than ten years, they have been able to complete a part of the work, and the chance to join the club has been missed several times.