Vice-Chair of the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, member of the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee, MEP Marketa Gregorova does not rule out a revision of relations between Georgia and the European Union in some areas.

The European Union said while it respects the Georgian Government’s decision on not to ask it the disbursement of EUR 75 loan, it notes that “Georgia failed to sufficiently address the condition for this macro-financial assistance and notably, to increase independence, accountability and the quality of the judicial system.”

When asked, “is the suspension of the second tranche of macro-financial assistance a one-time act?” MEP Gregorova told the Accent:

“That is of course difficult to answer for me, as I cannot predict what the Georgian government plans on doing. However, this macro-financial assistance has been part of a post-pandemic foreign debt and this dept reached 60 % of Georgia's GDP, which is the legal limit. Therefore I can assume that Georgia won't be asking for further financial assistance in the near future.”

As for possible suspicion of other assistance of the EU to Georgia, she noted:

“It is important to note that this assistance has been stopped from Georgia's side. Even though we understand the reasoning behind it, we do hope that the foreseen changes in terms of human rights, rule of law and democratic principles will still be made. In case that does not happen and we see more democracy-backsliding or worsening situation of Georgian citizens, there are naturally other areas in which the EU and Georgia cooperate or have assets and where it can be re-negotiated. These are other funds in various sectors, provisions in the DCFTA and also in the Asociation Agreement. We need to see in the upcoming months, what is the direction Georgia goes.”

According to her, the loan of 150 mil. EUR to Georgia has been part of an initiative to limit the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic in the EU neighbourhoods, for which has been signed the Memorandum of Understanding with specific details for each state. Georgia has received the first part of this loan of 75 mil. EUR but decided not to take the second part.

“The importance was to strengthen the economy after the Covid-19 pandemic, but also to help with reforms where Georgia needs to make some improvements, such as in strengthening the public finance management, improving governance, sector reforms and labour market policies. I am hopeful that even though Georgian government decided not to take the second part of the MFA loan, that they will recognize the need for these reforms and look into that during their political term. These conditions are not used to politicize the situation as the Prime Minister suggested, but it should enhance the quality of life of the citizens of Georgia, which should be our common goal in the end,” she added.