2024-11-07 15:00 update: 2024-11-07, 15:01
Photo PAP/EPA
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have issued a joint statement on Thursday expressing their concerns about the political situation after the general elections in Georgia.
The leaders of the Weimar Triangle format said that they cannot back the country's UE accession unless reforms are implemented.
Tusk, Macron, and Scholz have expressed their concerns regarding irregularities during the country's voting, including the intimidation of voters. They also said they supported the "European and democratic aspirations of the Georgian people."
"Unless Georgia reverses its current course of action and demonstrates tangible reform efforts, in particular by repealing recent legislation that runs counter to European values and principles, we will not be in a position to support the opening of accession negotiations with Georgia," they added.
The elections took place in Georgia on October 26. The winning party was the pro-Russian Georgian Dream. International observers noted countless discrepancies during the voting process, and Georgian opposition leaders and Salome Zourabichvili, the country's pro-EU president, had said the voting was tampered with.
Also, on October 30, The European Commission said that the accession process for Georgia has been put on hold and that it would not recommend reinstating it unless the country adheres to EU values.
On Wednesday, the heads of UE commissions and foreign commissions in EU member state parliaments, as well commissions in the Ukraine and Moldova had called for an international investigation into the election in Georgia. (PAP)
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