Following the Georgian government’s decision not to take the second instalment of loan assistance worth €75 million from the EU, Brussels said on Tuesday (31 August) that Tbilisi had failed to fulfil the reform conditions attached to the assistance, the latest sign of an increasingly rocky relationship, Euractiv reports.
“While we respect the decision of Georgian authorities, at the same time, we note that Georgia failed to sufficiently address the condition for this macro-financial assistance, and notably, to increase the independence, accountability and quality of the judicial system,” the EU said, reacting to Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s announcement.
Garibashvili said earlier on Tuesday his country would not ask for the second half of the €150 assistance – complementary to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) support and part of the €3 billion loan package the EU put together to stabilize its eastern neighbors at the start of the pandemic – which was due to be disbursed before 30 September 2021.
