The Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP) organized the presentation of the interim report “Ahead of Decision about the Candidate Status: Scenarios for Georgia” on October 16, 2023.
Discussion aimed at collecting insights from established Georgian experts about the risks and opportunities in each scenario, and preparing the final scenarios report, which will then be published and presented to wider audience. In the frameworks of the discussion the risks to strengthen the authoritarian tendencies in Georgia, Russian soft power and anti-European actors, also increasing public nihilism towards the EU integration process were outlined. In terms of opportunities strengthening Brussel’s accessibility to Georgia’s reform process, local pro-Western actors and broad public support were highlighted. Remaining Georgia in the geopolitical focus of the EU was also considered one of the important opportunities for Tbilisi.
The event was opened by Vano Chkhikvadze, EU Integration Program Manager at the Open Society Georgia Foundation and Renata Skardžiūtė-Kereselidze, Deputy Director of GIP. In the framework of the round table discussion format GIP Director Prof. Kornely Kakachia and Policy Analyst Nino Samkharadze presented the first findings examining the two possible scenarios regarding the EU’s decision about the candidate status. Each scenario entails its own opportunities and risks, which were presented for discussion with the civil society representatives, expert community, journalists and policy professionals. The discussion was moderated by Kakha Gogolashvili, Senior Fellow, Director of the EU Studies Center at GFSIS.
The event was organized under the framework of the project “Strengthening Georgia’s Alignment with the EU Foreign and Security Policy” financially supported by the Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF).
Photo Gallery
