Participating in an eight members-strong delegation of the foreign affairs committee (AFET), S&D members Richard Howitt, the spokesperson for foreign affairs, and Andrejs Mamikins, the EP Georgia rapporteur, visited the Georgian capital Tbilisi on 26 July. The delegation met with civil society organisations and authorities, including President Georgi Margvelashvili, Prime Minister Garibashvili and the speaker of the parliament Usupashvili. The members travelled to the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) with the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia at Didi Khurvaleti. The delegation also visited former high-ranking officials in prison accused of various crimes.
S&D MEP Richard Howitt said:
"The visit confirmed in terms of pro-European reforms, that Georgia is a front-runner among the European Union's Eastern Partnership countries. Socialists and Democrats particularly appreciated the fact that there is solid cross-party support for further European integration from both the government and the mainstream opposition. It is also clear that public opinion in Georgia continues to overwhelmingly favour the country moving closer to the EU.
"During the visit to the Administrative Boundary Line with South Ossetia, we witnessed first-hand the dramatic impact the latest "borderisation" imposes on the livelihoods of local people. We reaffirmed our unreserved support for Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereignty.
"We also encouraged our Georgian counterparts to deepen their engagement with the populations of Abkhasia and South Ossetia and increase people-to-people contacts. Such an open, inclusive approach, based on mutual respect, is a fundamental pre-requisite to building confidence and increasing Georgia's attractiveness among the populations of the breakaway regions and their desire to re-join Georgia.
"Our talks in Tbilisi exposed the major challenges to be faced in order to bridge the political polarisation between the government of the Georgian Dream coalition and the opposition represented mainly by the former ruling United National Movement (UNM) party. Both the government and the opposition have a major responsibility to avoid excessive polarisation, which can harm the country's efforts to further modernize and move closer to the EU.
"On alleged "selective justice", of which the government stands accused by its opponents from the UNM and their allies in Europe, Socialists and Democrats stress that we will never support political interference in judicial proceedings. We support our European People's Party colleagues in questioning if prosecutions may have been conducted with political motivation, but they should join with us in supporting the principle of accountability for serious crimes and no impunity on political grounds either.
"The best way to ensure that is to support further judicial reform in Georgia, in particular, ensuring effective respect for the rights of the defendants and full independence and de-politicisation of the Office of the Prosecutor, in line with the recommendations of the Venice Commission. In particular, Georgia has to consider reducing the pre-trial detention periods."
S&D MEP Andrejs Mamikins added:
"Our Georgians counterparts emphasised that an achievement of a visa-free travel with the EU is their top priority. We fully support that goal, as it will tremendously enhance the EU soft power in Georgia and foster further people-to-people contacts, business ties, academic and cultural student exchanges, etc. We are confident that Georgia will be able to fulfil all the benchmarks set in this regard, and the next European Commission report on the matter, expected in autumn this year, will issue a positive recommendation. We stand ready to support Georgian authorities in this endeavour."
