Georgian PM highlights well-functioning, fair, effective justice system

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Wednesday emphasised that Georgia had a well-functioning, fair, and effective justice system, noting that the European Commission’s report showed the country outperforms roughly 10 EU nations.

In his remarks, Kobakhidze noted that the European Commission’s evaluation clearly reflected the competence of Georgia’s justice system, outperforming several EU countries.

“In reality, everyone can see the situation. The fact that, according to the European Commission’s report, we outperform about 10 EU countries speaks for itself”, he said.

The Prime Minister further noted that European partners had never been able to present concrete cases of judicial injustice in Georgia, even in politically sensitive matters.

“We often ask, including our European colleagues, to present concrete facts if they have any remarks regarding the judiciary’s work. For example, for years we requested that they present even a single case in which they observed an unjust decision by the courts. They could not present any such case. Moreover, there were several politically sensitive cases, including those submitted to the European Court of Human Rights, and in all these cases, the European Court of Human Rights upheld the decisions of the Georgian judiciary”, he noted.

Kobakhidze added that past campaigns against the judiciary failed because they were inconsistent with reality.

“All of this is clear as day, and the public knows very well the real situation in the justice system. Against this backdrop, we recall that several campaigns were initiated against the judiciary. However, all of these campaigns failed precisely because the reality is different. The reality is that we have a well-functioning, fair, and effective justice system”, he concluded.

The European Anti-Corruption Research Centre - European Centre for Anti-Corruption and State-Building Studies - has released an extensive new report analysing the causes and trends of corruption risks across Europe. Commissioned by the European Union as part of the European Commission’s Research and Innovation Programme, the study covers all 41 EU member and candidate countries.

Among its many thematic sections, the report includes an in-depth assessment of judicial independence across Europe. Georgia performs strongly in this ranking: according to a visualised Europe-wide map included in the report, Georgia scores 6.5 out of 10 for judicial independence. With this result, it stands alongside Lithuania and Portugal and ranks 16th in Europe - placing the country within the continent’s top twenty.