The European Parliament approved the annual report on the Implementation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, having mentioned Georgia multiple times in the 37-page document.
The document highlights Georgia was the first country to experience full-scale Russian military aggression in August 2008. It urges the EU to keep demanding that Russia must implement its obligations under the EU-mediated 12 August 2008 Ceasefire Agreement.
“Where the voluntary accession of European states to the EU remains the Union’s most successful foreign policy instrument, and on 23 June 2022, European leaders granted Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova candidate status for EU membership and recognized Georgia’s European perspective, and on 15 December 2022, the European Council granted Bosnia and Herzegovina candidate status for EU membership, and the Republic of Kosovo submitted its application for EU membership – it underlines that Russia is also implementing an aggressive policy towards Georgia and Moldova,” the document reads.
“The EU acknowledges that Georgia was the first country to experience full-scale Russian military aggression in August 2008, when Russia attempted to forcibly change the borders of a sovereign state in Europe, to occupy regions which are an indivisible part of Georgia — Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia — and to take steps towards their de facto annexation, to expel hundreds of thousands of people from their homes as a result of ethnic cleansing and to divide societies with occupation lines. The EU is urged to keep demanding that Russia must implement its obligations under the EU-mediated 12 August 2008 Ceasefire Agreement; to strengthen its engagement in peaceful conflict resolution in the Eastern Partnership region” the report notes.
“The Union’s enhanced engagement with the countries of the Southern Caucasus is welcomed, notably the swift adoption of an EU monitoring capacity mission along Armenia’s international border with Azerbaijan in order to monitor the situation in the region, build confidence and contribute to restoring peace and security.”
The importance of decreasing Russian influence in the region through increased EU presence is highlighted in the document, as is the call on the Council to expand the number of deployed experts and increase the mission capacity, and calls for stronger presence in the region.
The document calls on the EEAS to prepare a thorough report on violations of the 2008 ceasefire agreement, given that the EU bears special responsibility as mediator of the 12 August 2008 Ceasefire Agreement.
“The EEAS is called on to identify and communicate the provisions which have still not been fulfilled by the Russian Federation and submit recommendations which could induce the Russian Federation to fulfil them, in particular the withdrawal of its military forces from Georgia’s occupied territories and allowing the establishment of international security mechanisms in the country and allowing the EU unhindered access to the whole territory of Georgia pursuant to its mandate,” it notes.
The EU Parliament reaffirms that the future of the peoples of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, as well the Western Balkans, lies within the EU.
“We reaffirm the commitment to enlargement, to which there is no alternative and which is more than ever a geostrategic investment in a stable, strong and united EU; strongly believing that a prospect of full EU membership for the countries striving to become Member States of the EU is in the Union’s own political, economic and security interest. We call on Georgia to tangibly deliver on the priorities drawn up by the Commission and endorsed by the European Council in its conclusions of 23 and 24 June 2022. We welcome the measures announced by the Commission for strengthening Ukraine, such as access to our internal market and lifting roaming fees, and trust that the same measures will be extended to the Republic of Moldova and Georgia, which is in equal need of strong signals of support from the EU and of concrete steps towards EU integration given the strong destabilizing forces threatening their democracies,” the document reads.
The report reiterates the EU’s commitment to the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia within their internationally recognized borders, and supports their efforts to fully enforce these principles; underlining the importance of the unity and solidarity of the Member States in this regard.
The document strongly condemns the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, as well as the enabling role of the Lukashenko regime in Belarus.
“We call on the Russian leadership to end it immediately and withdraw unconditionally from the entire internationally recognized territory of Ukraine and any other country, in particular Georgia and the Republic of Moldova, whose territory or parts thereof it unlawfully occupies. We urge Russia to guarantee a free flow of grain and other raw materials across the globe; call on the Council to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and as a state which uses means of terrorism; urges the international community to support all legitimate international and national processes, including under the principle of universal jurisdiction, in order to investigate crimes against humanity and war crimes with a view to holding all those responsible for the countless war crimes and human rights violations, including mass rapes and forced deportation of Ukrainians, accountable before a court of law; and reaffirm that Russia will have to compensate all the damages and destruction it has caused in Ukraine. We note that many Russian citizens are leaving Russia to avoid conscription, and call for all those who voluntarily assisted Russia in any way in this war or in the organization of illegitimate referendums be held accountable and individually sanctioned,” the document states.
