On July 18, the Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP), in cooperation with the Centre International de Formation Européenne (CIFE) and Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University organized the round-table discussion “Georgia’s NATO and EU Integration Process.”
The discussion was organized in the framework of the Black Sea Summer University 2023, which was held between 13-19 July in Tbilisi on the topic – The Shifting Geopolitics of the Black Sea Region. The joint program brought together 30 young researchers in political sciences and international relations from Georgia as well as from different countries all around the world. For one week, participants met Georgian and foreign specialists to discuss the challenges that Black Sea region countries face amid the major geopolitical shifts in the region.
The round-table discussion discussed all aspects of the relations of Georgia with NATO and the EU, the membership perspectives, and the prerequisites / criteria for progressing towards this perspective. The discussion also tackled the overall approach of EU and NATO member states in regard to further enlargements. Oliko SHERMADINI, Political Officer at the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia presented the EU perspective, while Arkadiusz LEGIEC, Political Officer at the NATO Liaison Office for South Caucasus in Georgia, discussed the abovementioned points from the NATO perspective. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Despina AFENTOULI, Executive Director at the Institute of International Relations, Athens, Greece (IDIS).
The discussion was focused on the following points:
- Focusing on the security environment in the context of the war in Ukraine, including the Black Sea and the Caucasus;
- Analysing the response of NATO and EU in regard to the region – additional support, political and defense cooperation;
- Membership perspectives: has the war in Ukraine facilitated them or rendered them more difficult?
- Alternatives to membership for the countries of the region.
The round-table discussion was organized with the financial support of the NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division (PDD) under the project “Mapping and mitigating Georgia’s Resilience Risks”.
