Georgia–European Union relations

• European Union
• Georgia

Georgia is a state in the Caucasus, the long-term plans to join the European Union. Georgia is a member of the Euro Europe. It participates in the EU programs European Neighbourhood Policy ( ENP) and TRACECA.

History

Georgia became independent in 1991, before there was a union republic ( member state ) of the now defunct Soviet Union. Georgia under President Mikheil Saakashvili seeks to establish close ties to the EU. In his first speech to the European Parliament, the Georgian president campaigned for a membership perspective. Georgia was historically an ancient European country which have been transformed in the last three years of a post-Soviet chaos in a market-based democracy, Saakashvili said in 2006 in Strasbourg.

The Caucasus war in 2008 slowed down the closer to the European Union. President Saakashvili gave the EU a complicity in the military conflict, because they did not take his warnings against Russian troops concentration at the Georgian border seriously. On 15 September 2008, the EU took the decision to send a monitoring mission to Georgia. Two weeks later, the operational phase of the European Union Monitoring Mission launched (EUMM ) for Georgia. The staff strength of 350 employees in headquarters and staff and 200 observers is supported by 22 EU Member States.

Although the military conflict between Georgia and Russia has put EU membership of Georgia in the distant future, the EU is seeking to strengthen relations. In May 2009, Brussels founded for this purpose with Georgia and five other former Soviet republics, the Eastern Partnership.