Session III - The Role of the Development Cooperation in the Process of Georgia's EU-Driven Reforms – Challenges and Opportunities

The EU was one of the first to assist Georgia in the difficult early years of transition and since then it annually provides substantial financial assistance supporting Georgia’s process of democratization and development. The EU assistance to Georgia in 1992-2015 amounted about 1.7 Billion euros only in a form of grants. Since 1992, the EU has been providing assistance to Georgia through different instruments and programmes including National (Bilateral), Regional (Multilateral), Cross-border cooperation (CBC) and Thematic assistance instruments. By signing the Association Agreement in 2014, Georgia’s relations with the EU reached qualitatively new and higher level. European integration became an integral part of the country’s domestic policy creating a solid basis for the Georgia`s “European Way”. In this context, EU assistance has a special role in the process of implementation of the Association Agreement and particularly in the process of reforms in the Rule of Law and Judiciary sectors. In the light of successful implementation of the reforms, the amount of the EU financial assistance and the support delivered by the EU Member States and other donor organizations has significantly increased, as well as new and more comprehensive EU assistance instruments has become available for Georgia.