Many of us, who lived in Georgia during the 1990s, vividly remember the extremely difficult socio-economic situation in the country—extreme poverty, the civil war brewing in Tbilisi, and conflicts raging in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali, among other challenges that the majority of the Georgian population faced on a daily basis.
At that time, the European Union did not exist in the form in which it exists today. It was then called the European Community, which was renamed the European Union in 1993, with the enforcement of the “founding” Treaty of Maastricht signed in 1992. It is from this period that the European Union acquired the characteristics of a political union along with an economic one.

At that time, the population had low awareness about both the European Community and the European Union as there were no modern means of obtaining information and, in general, there were hardly any specific project in the country that would be associated with the European Union. Nevertheless, it was in those years that Georgia and the European Union began to establish their first relations broadly referred to as Western integration. Western integration manifested as the desire to establish relations not only with European states, but also with the United States of America and other Western countries. Many of you may not remember that one of the first aids that the country received in those difficult years came from the European Community (later the EU). This was a well-known humanitarian aid in those years, which included food, basic necessities of life and especially medicines that you wcobould come across in pharmacies and that were very easy to recognize with a logo of 12 gold stars on a blue background. This marked our first encounter with the European Union in Georgia, prompting questions like: why are they helping us? Do they need anything from us? Can someone help without expecting anything in return? It was difficult for many to believe that the European Union was selflessly helping Georgia and that extending a helping hand to the countries going through the period of difficulties is an inherent part of European solidarity and European values.

Georgia has not received humanitarian aid funding for a long time now, and the main part of EU aid is now focused on such goals as supporting democratic and economic reforms, infrastructure development, promoting trade with the EU, rapprochement with EU standards and the Europeanization of Georgia, in general.

Since Georgia received its first European humanitarian aid over 30 years ago, and since then, the European Union has implemented projects worth more than 2.5 billion euros in Georgia. EU aid contributed to various successful projects, including the rehabilitation of the Enguri HPP, the construction of the Samtredia-Grigoleti highway, and the establishment of the European School in Tbilisi; in the aftermath of the 2008 Russian aggression, Georgia received 8.5 billion euros in aid., a large part of which was spent for the construction of housing for internally displaced persons; 50 million euros was allocated to Georgia to eliminate the consequences of 2015 floods; 300 million euros to help Georgia recover from the Covid-19 crisis, to transfer necessary equipment to our healthcare systems and provide training of doctors; Erasmus+ programme to support education, including by providing more than 6,000 students with scholarships to obtain degrees in Europe; mobility of Georgian scientists and cultural workers, and many other projects and activities.

One of the main tangible benefits of cooperation with the European Union is undoubtedly visa-free travel in the Schengen area. Citizens of none of Georgia’s neighboring countries can visit the Schengen area without a visa. Visa liberalization has great political and practical significance for Georgia, and its main advantage is that almost every citizen of Georgia can enjoy it and benefit from it. Visa-free travel has significant social and economic effects for the country. Visa liberalization and increased traffic made it possible for low-cost airlines to enter the market, which contributes to the further development of tourism potential, growth of income, employment, and overall development of the country’s economy. Visa liberalization gave Georgian citizens a unique opportunity not only to travel to the European Union for tourist purposes, but also to visit their relatives, undergo medical treatment, improve their qualifications, establish business contacts and for other purposes.

At the same time, consultations are underway regarding the creation of a common roaming space between Georgia and the EU that will make travel to EU countries even more comfortable, in particular, Georgian citizens will no longer have to buy SIM cards when traveling to EU countries and will benefit from preferential prices for calls made in the European Union’s roaming space.

Based on the successfully implemented reforms in the banking sector, the European Union is considering Georgia’s application for joining the European Union’s Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA). If Georgia becomes a member of the SEPA, Georgian banks will execute SEPA payment transactions at reduced tariffs for Georgian nationals.
About 20 years ago, when negotiations were underway with the Balkan countries regarding the signing of stabilization and association agreements (similar to the Association Agreement), it was hardly conceivable that one day Georgia would also become a country associated with the European Union, Georgian products would gain an access to the European Union’s single market and Georgian companies would export their goods to the EU at zero duty rate.

Since the signing of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement, Georgian exports to the EU have increased by 20%, and the EU is Georgia’s main trade partner. Since the EU market opened to Georgia, the quality and export of Georgian wines and nuts have increased significantly. Georgia began to export such products to the European Union as Georgian kiwi, blueberries, natural jams, juices, herbs, dried fruits, as well as animal products; the quality of Georgian honey, which has been one of the best -placed goods to enter the EU market over the past few years, significantly improved. Georgian wool and snails are also popular in the European Union.

No neighboring country of Georgia has a free trade regime with the European Union, which makes Georgia an attractive destination for foreign direct investments. More specifically, in the case of investing in Georgia and using local raw materials in production, the investor can export duty-free to the 450 million EU market. Besides, many years of successful reforms, Georgia’s low taxes, flexible public services, and the ease of doing business make Georgia one of the leading destinations for foreign investment in the region.

The European Commission took one of the most important decisions this year: the European Union’s public procurement market was opened for Georgian companies, which means that Georgian companies can participate in tenders announced in EU member states and offer their products to the world’s largest market. It is significant that in Europe every year about 250 thousand purchasing organizations buy goods and services for a total amount of about 2 trillion euros. This will bring great economic benefits to Georgia in the medium and long term, including the further increase of Georgian exports to the European Union, retooling of the national manufacturing, introduction of new technologies.

As for the European Council’s decision of 23 June 2022 on granting the European perspective to Georgia, it was hard to imagine just a year ago, but now it is a reality. With this decision, Georgia-EU relations moved to a completely new and qualitatively higher level – Georgia’s membership in the European Union is already a reality – it is an irreversible process and one day, Georgia, as a European country, will definitely become a member of the European Union.

Blog by Davit Bujiashvili

The views expressed in the article represent the opinions of the author