Subject: Fwd: FW: Association Committee
From: Maia Nikoleishvili <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2017 07:38:16 +0000

-----Original Message-----

From: Lela Garsevanishvili

To: "[email-masked]" ,
"[email-masked]" , Nino Grdzelishvili
, Maia Nikoleishvili

Cc: Salome Shapakidze , Vakhtang
Makharoblishvili , Nino Chachava

Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2017 07:14:29 +0000

Subject: FW: Association Committee

მოგესალმებით,

ქვემოთ იხილეთ
ევროკავშირის პასუხი ა.წ. 22
ივნისს ქ. თბილისში გამართული
ასოცირების კომიტეტის
სამოქმედო დასკვნებში
შრომის ინსპექციაზე სადავო
ჩანაწერთან დაკავშირებით.

როგორც ნახავთ,
ევროკავშირი არ თანხმდება
ქართული მხარის შეთავაზებას
და არ იზიარებს არგუმენტებს.
გთხოვთ, გვაცნობოთ თქვენი
პოზიცია და ასევე თუ არის
შესაძლებელი, შევიმუშაოთ
ალტერნატიული კომპრომისული
წინადადება, რომელიც
მისაღები იქნებოდა ჩვენთვის
და ასევე დააკმაყოფილებდა
ევროკავშირსაც. წინააღდეგ
შემთხვევაში ეს საკითხი
შესაძლოა ასოცირების საბჭოს
სხდომაზე დადგეს, რომელიც
პრემიერ-მინისტრის დონეზე
გაიმართება 8 დეკემბერს
ბრიუსელში.

Lela
Garsevanishvili

Head of
Division for EU Association

Department
for European Integration

Ministry of
Foreign Affairs

Te
l: (+995) 32 2 94 50 00- ext.
13-02

From:
DEUSY Pierre (EEAS) [mailto:[email-masked]]

Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2017 6:47 PM

To: Lela Garsevanishvili

Cc: RYCHENER Frederique (EMPL); Teona Giuashvili; Salome Shapakidze;
Vakhtang Makharoblishvili; SCHUEBEL Dirk (EEAS); MARFI Krisztina (EEAS);
TORTA Isabella (EEAS); PUSTERLA Nicoletta (EEAS)

Subject: RE: Association Committee

Dear Lela,

We liaised
with DG EMPL, who is in charge of the file, and it is unfortunately
impossible for us to accept having a deadline in 2019 (and only the final
aim without intermediate concrete steps).

They confirmed
that we are not asking for a fully-fledged labour inspectorate covering all
the sectors before end of 2017, but that we need to implement this year
previous commitments to put in place
the legal instrument needed to underpin a fully-fledged labour inspection
system. Indeed, the OSH law is a first step in this direction, but only a
first step (e.g. as you decided not to take on board all ILO comments).

We need for
instance you to define asap what are the highly risky / dangerous activities
which will be first covered (+ how?), and to have something
(deadlines/planning?) about monitoring implementation
and ensuring follow-up and further generalisation. We are open to the
precise wording of this commitment, but we need to have this, if not in
2017, at least in the first quarter of 2018.

Georgia also
needs to take steps to develop the legal basis allowing for a labour
inspection system in other areas than OSH. This should start asap, in
2018.

I hope we can
rapidly agree on that line, otherwise, we are likely to be blocked.

Sincerely

Pierre

Pierre DEUSY

European External Action Service - Service Européen pour l'Action
Extérieure

MD Europe and Central Asia – EURCA

EURCA EAST 2

Advisor to the Head of Division for economic and trade-related matters in
the Eastern Partnership countries

*

RP Schuman 9A
- B - 1046 - LOI 5/315

(  + 32 2 584 2166  - (from Commission: * 96
2166)

@

[email-masked]

From:
Lela Garsevanishvili [
mailto:[email-masked]]

Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2017 3:42 PM

To: DEUSY Pierre (EEAS)

Cc: Teona Giuashvili; Salome Shapakidze; Vakhtang Makharoblishvili;
SCHUEBEL Dirk (EEAS); MARFI Krisztina (EEAS); BOUDRON Raffaella (NEAR);
TORTA Isabella (EEAS); PUSTERLA Nicoletta (EEAS)

Subject: RE: Association Committee

Dear Pierre,

Thank you for constructive approach towards our comments. All of them are
acceptable and as you shall see, I have removed track-changes.

As you indicated, one issue still remains open and that concerns the labour
inspection. Our relevant line-ministries would like to maintain the overall
deadline and have provided respective
explanation as a comment. We hope for your understanding in reflecting this
challenging task in this document as proposed.

Sincerely,

Lela Garsevanishvili

Head of Division for EU
Association

Department for European
Integration

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Tel: (+995) 32 2 94 50 00- ext.
13-02

From:
DEUSY Pierre (EEAS) [
mailto:[email-masked]]

Sent: Monday, October 16, 2017 6:24 PM

To: Lela Garsevanishvili

Cc: Teona Giuashvili; Salome Shapakidze; Vakhtang Makharoblishvili;
SCHUEBEL Dirk (EEAS); MARFI Krisztina (EEAS); BOUDRON Raffaella (NEAR);
TORTA Isabella (EEAS); PUSTERLA Nicoletta (EEAS)

Subject: RE: Association Committee

Dear Lela,

Sorry for taking so much time to answer, but it proved to be
difficult receiving the necessary feedback from TAXUD…

We managed to satisfy most of your requests, including on
Energy where we provided alternative language you should agree with… The
only point on which I see a persisting
problem is labour inspection (see our comments). We sincerely would like
not to be confrontational, but the OC should reflect the reinsurances we got
orally during the ACty. Moreover, this is a very old story which needs to be
seriously addressed: statistics
are worsening and social (ultra-minimal, here) protection is part of the
genetics of the EU model. We cannot agree delaying previous commitments
beyond 2018.

I do hope that we will rapidly converge to an agreed document
on that basis, to be shared with the AC early December

BR

Pierre

From:
Lela Garsevanishvili [
mailto:[email-masked]]

Sent: Friday, September 22, 2017 9:28 AM

To: DEUSY Pierre (EEAS)

Cc: Teona Giuashvili; Salome Shapakidze; Vakhtang Makharoblishvili;
SCHUEBEL Dirk (EEAS); MARFI Krisztina (EEAS); BOUDRON Raffaella (NEAR);
TORTA Isabella (EEAS); PUSTERLA Nicoletta (EEAS)

Subject: RE: Association Committee

Dear Pierre,

Please find attached the draft AC Operation Conclusions with relevant
comments from the line-ministries, as well as the draft report of the
meeting with the input from the line ministries.
For better reading, I have accepted the agreed track-changes in the
OCs.

Sincerely,

Lela Garsevanishvili

Head of Division for EU-Georgia
Cooperation

Department for European
Integration

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Tel: (+995) 32 2 94 50 00- ext.
13-02

From:
DEUSY Pierre (EEAS) [
mailto:[email-masked]]

Sent: Monday, September 11, 2017 4:31 PM

To: Lela Garsevanishvili

Cc: Teona Giuashvili; Salome Shapakidze; Vakhtang Makharoblishvili;
SCHUEBEL Dirk (EEAS); MARFI Krisztina (EEAS); BOUDRON Raffaella (NEAR);
TORTA Isabella (EEAS); PUSTERLA Nicoletta (EEAS)

Subject: RE: next Association Committee

Dear Lela,

Late August is past and early September quite advanced… Any
news from your side?

BR

Pierre

From:
Lela Garsevanishvili [
mailto:[email-masked]]

Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2017 2:25 PM

To: DEUSY Pierre (EEAS)

Cc: Teona Giuashvili; Salome Shapakidze; Vakhtang Makharoblishvili;
SCHUEBEL Dirk (EEAS); HERMAN Janos (EEAS-TBILISI); DEVIGNE Luc (EEAS);
BOUSQUET Mathieu (NEAR); TORTA Isabella (EEAS); PUSTERLA Nicoletta (EEAS);
REY Vincent (EEAS-TBILISI); DLOUCHY-SULIGA
Dorota (EEAS-TBILISI); ANQUETIL Emmanuel (EEAS-EXT); ANDRESEN GUIMARAES
Fernando (EEAS); SORENSEN Anne (EEAS); RYCHENER Frederique (EMPL); TROMBETTA
Dario (ENV-EXT); CSONTOS Eniko (HOME); DU VILLE Glenn (HOME); VERSTREKEN
Kathleen (EEAS); CONTI Erika (ECHO);
CURZON Stephen James (ECHO); HOFMANS Bram (EEAS-EXT); MARFI Krisztina
(EEAS); BOUDRON Raffaella (NEAR); HAUF Michaela (NEAR); FREIGOFAS Ramunas
(SANTE)

Subject: Re: next Association Committee

Dear Pierre,

Unfortunately, as many our colleagues from line ministries are
on leave, including myself, we can come back on your comments late
August/early September.

Sincerely,

Lela

From: DEUSY
Pierre (EEAS) <
[email-masked]>

Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2017 3:15 PM

To: Lela Garsevanishvili

Cc: Teona Giuashvili; Salome Shapakidze; Vakhtang Makharoblishvili;
SCHUEBEL Dirk (EEAS); HERMAN Janos (EEAS-TBILISI); DEVIGNE Luc (EEAS);
BOUSQUET Mathieu (NEAR); TORTA Isabella (EEAS); PUSTERLA Nicoletta (EEAS);
REY Vincent (EEAS-TBILISI); DLOUCHY-SULIGA
Dorota (EEAS-TBILISI); ANQUETIL Emmanuel (EEAS-EXT); ANDRESEN GUIMARAES
Fernando (EEAS); SORENSEN Anne (EEAS); RYCHENER Frederique (EMPL); TROMBETTA
Dario (ENV-EXT); CSONTOS Eniko (HOME); DU VILLE Glenn (HOME); VERSTREKEN
Kathleen (EEAS); CONTI Erika (ECHO);
CURZON Stephen James (ECHO); HOFMANS Bram (EEAS-EXT); MARFI Krisztina
(EEAS); BOUDRON Raffaella (NEAR); HAUF Michaela (NEAR); FREIGOFAS Ramunas
(SANTE)

Subject: next Association Committee

Dear Lela,

In spite of the absence of many colleagues here in Brussels, we
finally managed to consolidate more rapidly than initially envisaged an EU
answer to your demands.

We sincerely tried to satisfy them as much as possible, but it
was not always possible.

As you are well aware the mandate of the Association Committee
is to support the work of the Association Council and the implementation of
the Association Agreement. Association
Committee Conclusions do not relate to the respective Parties' relations
with third countries but aim to administer the institutional arrangements
for developing dialogue, implementing the Association Agreement and
furthering our bilateral relations. Furthermore,
the EU has already explicitly stated in the Association Agreement that the
EU recognizes the importance of the commitment of Georgia to reconciliation
and its efforts to restore its territorial integrity and full and effective
control over the breakaway regions
of Georgia in pursuit of a peaceful and lasting conflict resolution based
on principles of international law, and of the EU's commitment to support a
peaceful and lasting resolution of the conflict. In the same context the EU
has also clearly stated that it
attaches great importance of pursuing the implementation of the Six-Point
Agreement of 12 August 2008 and its subsequent implementing measures, of
meaningful international presence for maintaining peace and security on the
ground, of pursuing mutually supportive
non-recognition and engagement policies, of supporting the Geneva
International Discussions and of safe and dignified return of all internally
displaced persons and refugees in line with principles of international
law.

Against this background, the accumulation of "consolidate
efforts", "mobilize efforts", "intensify dialogue", "take effective steps"
and "intensify efforts" sounds like
an (unfair and biased) critic of our action. Especially so since, as
stressed in Tbilisi, the next SSF will cover Breakaways much much more than
any similar document ever did before and since we have issued an
unprecedented series of statements in the last
months about the conflict. Your PM himself praised  and recognised
publicly the "crucial" importance of the EU contribution and "pro-active
involvement" in this respect on the 13.07 in Tabula… The wording you
propose gives the wrong impression that what we
do is both insufficient and inefficient, which is certainly not at par with
our growing and already huge efforts and commitments.

Unfortunately too, this impression is reinforced by the fact
that the sentence you propose are rather vague about ways and means to
reinforce our efforts in order to make
them more efficient… and that they seem to make as if the EU could decide
by its own on some decisive dimensions of the said involvement (e.g.
'reinfrocing' EUMM strictly depends on the MS, and we cannot commit on
this). To give a precise example: when you
ask to "Take effective steps to ensure observance of non-use of force by
Russia, establishment of international security arrangements in Georgian
regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, and the safe and
dignified return of IDPs and refugees,
as well as to guarantee security and human rights in the occupied
territories of Georgia",  it is unclear what is meant with "effective
steps", and some MS could choose to interpret such a wording as equalling
restrictive measures. In the same vein, the wording
"establishment of international security arrangements" also seems to be
alluring towards some sort of new political or operational initiative which
is neither clear nor would we be able to commit ourselves to something like
this without the consulting MS.
Moreover there is already suggested a reference to the fulfilment of all
provisions of the EU mediated 12 August 2008 Ceasefire Agreement and the
existing international frameworks so the proposal seems redundant…

Last but not least, the Association Committee is not really the
correct forum to agree conclusions on the EUMM Mission.  EUMM is
deployed to monitor the actions of the conflict
parties. We have always been open to follow up on concerns. But the crucial
point is that the Mission has to preserve its impartiality and autonomy. You
will understand that we cannot be seen as actively following advice from
parties on the ground. This is
the only way for the Mission to remain helpful.

Regarding the changes you propose relating to environment, it
is clear from the 2014 Association Agreement that environment is a priority
in our relationship with Georgia.
Even though the country is performing relatively well in several sectors
including economic and justice reforms, environment is a horizontal pillar
and should be considered as essential for our dialogue and for the long-term
prosperity of Georgia. There has
been so far significant progress on environment policy and willingness to
strengthen environment legislation and approximate EU acquis in Georgia, and
we would like to continue in this direction. Therefore, as we do not see
ground for a strong justification
(especially regarding the deadlines, as we believe these could - and should
- be respected) what agreed should remain. We would nonetheless add EU
support to Georgia regarding the Espoo Convention (second paragraph, in line
with what reported right after)
and restate the horizontal importance of environment, which should be
progressively integrated in other policy areas, such as the 2014
Social-Economic Development Strategy for Georgia.

Regarding organised crime and in particular property crime, the
reason for having "including organised property crime" is that
security/organised crime is one of the VLAP
benchmarks. Under the revised visa suspension mechanism (on which the
Georgians were normally updated by us or in any case during the Senior
Officials Meeting of 30 June), the monitoring mechanism has been reinforced,
as have been the grounds for suspension.
If Georgia should backtrack on the VLAP benchmarks, it could lose the
visa-free regime. As Georgia is well aware, the most worrying element in the
domain of organised crime is the involvement of Georgians in organised
property crime in Europe, notably in Germany,
and in committing burglaries.  Germany (or another EU country) could
well notify the Commission that it considers Georgia not fulfilling all VLAP
benchmarks anymore, which would then lead to the start of a procedure in
which this would be further investigated.
As said, in worst case this could lead to Georgia seeing its visa-free
regime being suspended.

Regarding the labour inspection, we can understand that time is
needed to effectively establish a full new system, with adequate capacity,
but the points in object are more
precise, we are pointing to the problem for very long and on them we need a
quicker action. The EU indeed needs to report on enforcement system,
as a key element of progress in delivering on commitments made in the AA and
DCFTA  (in relation with the TSD
chapter of the DCFTA). Moreover, maintaining bad working conditions have a
negative impact on the situation (and on Georgia’s image) : there are
regularly new accidents at work in some sectors, that are largely
publicized. Therefore, we think it is not on
our mutual interest to postpone the timing we proposed, which we think is
feasible. Could you please check with the line Ministry and at least provide
a more detailed justification for a postponement?

Regarding food safety in agriculture, we factually discussed
this point at the Association Committee, which is fundamental for us and
absolutely key for the development
of the agriculture sector. It is not because it is also and first
addressed in the Association Council in Trade configuration that it cannot
be addressed too in this format (and it was) nor that it cannot be mentioned
in the Operational conclusions.

Beyond that, our colleagues would like to add some additional
points to better reflect what we discussed, e.g. on civil protection,
justice & good governance, energy and
employment (see TC in attached document).

I hope that you will understand that our answer was built in
the most constructive spirit and in order to serve your own interest

BR

Pierre

From:
DEUSY Pierre (EEAS)

Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2017 9:47 AM

To: 'Lela Garsevanishvili'

Cc: Teona Giuashvili; Salome Shapakidze; TORTA Isabella (EEAS);
DEVIGNE Luc (EEAS); Vakhtang Makharoblishvili; PUSTERLA Nicoletta (EEAS);
HERMAN Janos (EEAS-TBILISI); REY Vincent (EEAS-TBILISI); DLOUCHY-SULIGA
Dorota (EEAS-TBILISI); SCHUEBEL Dirk (EEAS)

Subject: RE: next Association Committee

Dear Lela,

Thank you for your feedback. It is really sad we could not have
it before the meeting…

As you know, quite a lot of our colleagues have already left
Brussels for holidays; moreover, you may imagine that what you propose for
operational conclusions, which goes
quite beyond what was actually agreed in Tbilisi and pretends to determine
our bilateral relations with a big strategic partner within our bilateral
relation with you, needs further reflection from our side. I thus might not
be in the position to answer before
September, at best.

As for the draft report, as you know, from our side, we
followed, as we always do, the explicit mandate given before the meeting
through the DAA (draft annotated agenda,
which has been negotiated with our MS, attached), so that we would
appreciate your report respecting it when focussing on what
we said… which of course doesn’t prevent you to mention freely
what you said.

As for conflict resolution, though, we would appreciate that
the report do not go beyond what the Georgian actually said then (attached),
and that the report say that we
strongly reacted toward any so-called 'fading determination towards the
resolution of the Russia-Georgia conflict'. We stressed, on the contrary,
that our support to GE territorial integrity was not only continued
but enhanced, as illustrated by the fact
that we decided to have 'breakway regions' both as a cross cutting and as a
component of priority 2 within the next SSF, which was not the case
previously.

Sincerely

Pierre

From:
Lela Garsevanishvili [mailto:[email-masked]
]

Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2017 7:26 AM

To: DEUSY Pierre (EEAS)

Cc: Teona Giuashvili; Salome Shapakidze; TORTA Isabella (EEAS);
DEVIGNE Luc (EEAS); Vakhtang Makharoblishvili

Subject: RE: next Association Committee

Dear Pierre,

We have finalized comments on the draft Operational Conclusions of the
Association Committee, which I am sending to you attached herewith.

In the meantime, we have also prepared draft report of the meeting, which I
will send to you once agreed with the participating line-ministries.

Sincerely,

Lela Garsevanishvili

Head of Division for EU-Georgia
Cooperation

Department for European
Integration

Ministry of Foreign
Affairs

Tel: (+995) 32 2 94 50 00- ext.
13-02

From:
DEUSY Pierre (EEAS) [mailto:[email-masked]
]

Sent: Tuesday, June 20, 2017 1:18 PM

To: Lela Garsevanishvili

Cc: Teona Giuashvili; David Solomonia; VON HANDEL Thomas (EEAS);
TORTA Isabella (EEAS); DEVIGNE Luc (EEAS)

Subject: next Association Committee

Dear Lela,

You said to me in May that you didn't want to discuss the
operational conclusions
before the committee, but it is important to structure discussions on
some basis.

In order to facilitate exchanges on Thursday, here attached is
'our' mandate (i.e. our consolidated draft proposal for operational
conclusions, derived from the preliminary
draft version sent in May), as defined following various inputs from line
DGs in the Commission.

In case you have difficulties with some parts of this document,
we would appreciate knowing it, and discussing the points during the
Committee.

BR

Pierre