European Commission recommends to grant Georgia candidate status
On November 8, in the annual report on the enlargement of the European Union, the European Commission recommended to the member states of the EU to grant Georgia the candidate status.
“Therefore, the Commission recommends granting candidate status to Georgia on the understanding that the government takes important reform steps” Ursula von der Leyen said at the press conference.
She noted that the European Commission supports the genuine aspirations of the majority of Georgians to join the European Union. “the Commission also acknowledges a number of positive steps. For example, the opposition’s scrutiny on parliamentary work has been increased; an action plan for de-oligarchisation was adopted; the personalised approach was withdrawn; and the Anti-corruption Bureau was set up” said the President of the European Commission.
After the conclusion of the European Commission, the decision regarding the granting of the status should be taken by the European Council in December 2023.
The next step is the initiation of accession negotiations.
The President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, responded on Twitter to the positive recommendation of the European Commission on granting Georgia candidate status.
“Together with the Georgian people, I am happy and welcome the positive recommendation of the European Commission on the granting of candidate status to Georgia. As president, more than ever I will continue to play my role as a pro-European leader to promote and continue the reforms that are still needed,” the president wrote.
Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Gharibashvili responded to the assessment of the European Commission and said that “the truth has won”.
“As you know, in the last year, we worked 24 hours a day to implement 12 recommendations. Today we saw a report that is unequivocally, clearly positive. This decision is based on the achieved result,” Gharibashvili said.
The decision of the European Commission was assessed by the representatives of the opposition.
“Congratulations, the will of the Georgian people is respected – the European Union did not leave us face to face with Russia!” – Giorgi Vashadze, the leader of the opposition party “Strategy Agmashenebeli” noted.
“I want to congratulate the Georgian people on this important step, it is the most important decision. This is another confirmation that the European Union is a faithful friend of Georgia. At the same time, I would like to express my condolences to the “Georgian Dream”. This decision of the European Commission, despite all their efforts, their sabotage, even though they did not implement a large part of the recommendations, the European Commission still made a positive decision regarding granting the country the status of a candidate for EU membership.” – said Badri Japaridze, one of the leaders of “Lelo for Georgia” party.
“Georgian people won the first round against Russian dream, Russian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili. Despite their sabotage, the unshakable will of the Georgian people and Europe’s desire to prevent Georgia from becoming a Russian province won the first round. I want to congratulate the Georgian people on their first success and step, which is not final, and in the end, we should celebrate the victory over the Russian party.” – said the leader of “The United National Movement” Levan Khabeishvili.
Russian occupiers killed a Georgian citizen
On 6November , the State Security Service announced that the Russian occupiers killed a Georgian citizen and kidnapped another Georgian citizen near the village of Kirbali.
“On 6 November 2023, near the village of Kirbali, Gori municipality, in the occupied territory, during an attempt to illegally arrest a resident, a Georgian citizen died as a result of shooting with a firearm by the Russian occupying forces, and one citizen was illegally detained.” – said in the statement.
Givi (Nikoloz) Gintur, the brother of Tamaz Gintur, who was killed by the occupation forces on November 6, told the journalists in the village of Kirbali that the deceased was hit by two bullets.
“I saw his body. He was hit by 2 bullets… In 2008, he participated in the war with the rank of Major, and as far as I know, they were looking for him as a participant in the war and he was caught, I don’t know anything else,” he said.
President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili was at the condolence in the family of Tamaz Ginturi, who was killed by the occupation forces.
The statement on the murder of Tamaz Gintur was published by the de facto KGB of so-called South Ossetia, occupied by Russia. According to the de facto statement: “To suppress these illegal actions and to prevent the illegal crossing of the state border of the Republic of South Ossetia, the border guards fired a warning shot into the air and after disobeying the legal requirements, they set fire to the tires of the car”.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs started an investigation into the incident under Articles 109 and 143 of the Criminal Code, which means intentional murder and illegal deprivation of liberty.
Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Gharibashvili criticised representatives of the United National Movement while talking about the killing of Georgian citizen Tamaz Ginturi by the Russian occupation forces. According to Gharibashvili, the killing of Tamaz Ginturi “is the result of the occupation that was established after the war of August 2008”.
“The occupation of two historical regions of Georgia is the legacy left by the previous government and which cost the lives of our citizens. We call on our Western partners, the international community, to respond appropriately to the crime. Georgia will use all means to hold the criminals accountable!” – said the Mayor of Tbilisi Kakha Kaladze.
US State Department Deputy Spokesman Vedant Patel condemned the killing of Georgian citizen Tamaz Ginturi by the Russian occupation forces at a briefing held at the State Department.
Alisher Usmanov sued Liberty Bank and the NBG
Alisher Usmanov, the founder of the US-sanctioned company Metalloinvest, filed a lawsuit against the National Bank of Georgia and Liberty Bank. The Georgian court accepted the lawsuit.
The Georgian legal company MKD LAW will protect the plaintiff’s interests in court. According to the company’s representatives, the party disputes the flawed implementation of the US sanctions by the National Bank of Georgia, as a result of which Liberty Bank completely restricted the access of the Metalloinvest founder to assets amounting to several million euros placed with him.
According to the representative’s explanation, the statutory document by Liberty Bank, which was the basis for the decision to freeze assets for Metalloinvest, was not published, and Liberty Bank relied on the e-mail sent by the National Bank of Georgia to commercial banks in the decision-making process. According to the representative’s position, Liberty Bank imposed more restrictions on its protégé than the American sanction required. MKD LAW representative Sandro Samadbegishvili spoke about this in an interview with BMG.
The company Metalloinvest is a mining and metallurgical company registered in Switzerland, which owns several factories in Russia and the CIS countries. The company’s assets amount to several billion dollars. Its founder Alisher Usmanov is sanctioned by the USA.