Uphill struggle for EU ‘rule of law’ mission in Georgia

By David Cronin

Date: 28/10/04

AN EU-funded mission to assist with criminal justice reforms in Georgia has been hampered by poor facilities and ignorance about its work among the authorities in Tbilisi.

The so-called Themis operation - a 'rule of law' mission involving 13 legal specialists from EU states has just completed its first three months in Georgia.

An unpublished report says its headquarters still lack reliable phone and fax connections. The Tbilisi authorities were supposed to provide internet access to Themis, but connections secured so far "are slow and unreliable at best, thus practically no use".

One example cited is that of Thomas Baranovas, the deputy head of mission, assigned to work both in HQ and in the ministry of justice. The office designated for him was so badly equipped that he had to use a laptop computer borrowed from the country's deputy minister for justice. To date his two assistants have neither telephones, nor computers.

Allocated a budget of €2 million, Themis is the first ever 'rule of law' mission conducted under the EU's common foreign and security policy.

The operation was officially requested by President Mikhail Saakashvili to help with his efforts to bring the country closer to western European standards following last year's 'Rose Revolution' which ousted veteran leader Eduard Shevardnadze.

But the report says that Valerii Grigalashvili, the city prosecutor in Tbilisi, "did not seem to be informed" about Themis when he held his first meeting with it in August. It was three weeks before the team was able to arrange a meeting with the interior ministry.

Article reports on the Themis operation in Georgia, the first ever 'rule of law' mission conducted under the EU's common foreign and security policy. Allocated a budget of €2 million the EU-funded mission to assist with criminal justice reforms in Georgia involves 13 legal specialists from EU states. But the author says that in the first three months since its start in August 2004 it has been hampered by poor facilities and ignorance about its work among the authorities in Tbilisi.