European Parliament Calls for EU Institutions to Work Towards Granting EU Candidate Status to Georgia

Today, on June 9, the European Parliament's joint motion for a resolution addresses violations of media freedom in Georgia and challenges to the safety of journalists. One of the paragraphs of the same document calls on the European Union to impose personal sanctions on Bidzina Ivanishvili.

The resolution refers to granting candidate status to Georgia:

The European Parliament,

17. Calls on the Georgian authorities to resolutely uphold the highest standards of democracy, the rule of law, judicial independence, fair trials, and fundamental freedoms, including in the area of media freedom, and thereby unambiguously demonstrate their political determination to actualize the ambitious European aspirations of the people of Georgia, as witnessed by the country’s application for EU membership of 3 March 2022; expresses its belief that the legitimate aspirations of the people of Georgia deserve to be fulfilled and therefore calls for the EU institutions to work towards granting EU candidate status to Georgia, in line with Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union, on the basis of merit and on the condition that the Georgian authorities fulfill all criteria;