EU refers to Georgia's backsliding as unprecedented for EU accession

EU Ambassador Pawel Herczynski said that Georgia's backsliding is unprecedented for a country that wants to join the EU.

"Georgia’s candidate status was granted ‘on the understanding’ that nine steps - related mostly to rule of law and democracy - would be taken. Unfortunately, there was no sufficient political commitment by the Georgian authorities to implement the necessary reforms," Pawel Herczynski said.

He stressed that since last year’s report, Georgia has made insignificant progress on implementing most of the nine steps.

"Today’s report shows clear backsliding on the steps related to the fight against disinformation, political polarisation, on elections, and on human rights," the diplomat said.

The report also states that there has been backsliding on the most important chapter which concerns the ‘judiciary and fundamental rights’.

"This is unprecedented for a country that aspires to join the EU," the EU envoy said.