Georgia justice reforms to get boost from EU legal experts

Date: 10/06/04

LEGAL experts will be sent to Georgia as part of an EU move to help the new administration in Tbilisi introduce criminal justice reforms, it has emerged.

The Union's foreign ministers - meeting in Luxembourg next week (14-15 June) - are expected to endorse a plan to dispatch ten-12 judges and lawyers to the ex-Soviet republic for a 12-month period.

It is anticipated that the team's principal tasks would be to help introduce a code for criminal prosecutions and supervise judicial reforms.

The EU responded to last November's 'Rose Revolution', a bloodless uprising which forced the resignation of president Eduard Shevardnadze, by offering assistance to help its transition.

In December, the European Commission agreed to partly finance the presidential and parliamentary polls, which saw Mikhail Saakashvili elected to the top job and his supporters forming the main bloc in the national assembly.

Meanwhile, EU diplomats are said to be "working flat out" to finalize a compromise deal, which would enable the establishment of the European Defence Agency.

Doubts had been cast on whether the Irish EU presidency could realize its objective of securing agreement on setting up this agency - the first of its kind dedicated to improving armaments cooperation between member states - during Dublin's six-month stint at the Union's helm.

The UK and France had clashed over whether unanimity or qualified majority voting should apply to decisions of the agency's managing board, while Germany has been opposing efforts by some states to give that board autonomy from the Council of Ministers.

Yet sources at the Council say there is an air of optimism that a compromise can be thrashed out in time for next week's gathering of foreign ministers.

European Union Foreign Ministers meeting in Luxembourg on 14-15 June 2004 are expected to endorse a plan to send 10-12 judges and lawyers to Georgia for a year to help introduce a code for criminal prosecutions and supervise judicial reforms.