Meetings and Discussions

   

Parliamentary Committee Hearing on European Neighborhood Policy

On June 25, 2004 the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Georgian Parliament held a hearing on European Neighborhood Policy (ENP). The representative of the Foundation, Director of the European Studies, Mr. Kakha Gogolashvili was invited to testify during the hearing. European Commission Delegation in Georgia and Armenia contributed to the event.

During the hearing, several participants delivered to the audience their speeches on EU-Georgia relations.  Mr. Constantine Gabashvili, Chairman of Foreign Relations Committee gave an opening speech. He stressed the importance of Georgia’s inclusion in the ENP in terms of an impact it will have on Georgia’s further development. Mr Jacques Vantomme, Chargéd’Affairs, Head of Political, Economic and Press Section of the EC Delegation in Georgia and Armenia overviewed new developments in the EU and explained main directions of the Neighborhood Policy. H.E. Harry Molenaar, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Georgia concerned the political objectives of the ENP and future EU agenda. Parliamentary expert Mr. Vasili Tchkoidze provided information on the Action Plan envisaged by the ENP, which will be drawn up individually for each country covered by the Policy.

At the end of the hearing, Kakha Gogolashvili touched upon a broader issue of EU stance towards the South Caucasus. He talked about the post-enlargement inertia in the EU policy planning and commented on the ENP instruments. Mr.Gogolashvili discussed Neighborhood agreements and drew parallels with other EU foreign policy instruments like PCA, Europe agreement, Associate agreements, etc. After analyzing current ideas on the ENP financial instrument, Mr. Gogolashvili finished his speech, expressing utter disbelief in a possibility of substantial rise in EU funding of the assistance for the neighbor countries.