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6-7 May 2017: Europe Day weekend in Georgia



To celebrate Europe Day annually on 6 May, the European Union (EU) institutions open their doors to the public. In the case of Georgia, Europe Day comes to Rike Park in Tbilisi, next to the Peace Bridge on 7 May. The Delegation of the European Union to Georgia, with its 18 member state embassies and other partners organized Europe Day in Georgia from midday to 22:00.

The European Union provided the Georgian government and institutions funding to meet EU political and economic integration commitments. Under a new agreement, the EU will assist Georgia to meet conditions set out in the Association Agreement, and Visa Liberalisation Action Plan, as well as participate in EU research and cultural programs.

The State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Victor Dolidze, and the European Commission Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, signed a Financing Agreement launching the 2016 Technical Cooperation Facility. 

Through this programme, which will run until 2024, the European Union will allocate GEL 83 million (EUR 32 million) to Georgian public institutions to help them comply with commitments set out in the EU-Georgia Association Agreement, Visa Liberalisation, and Readmission Agreement as well as support participation of Georgian beneficiary institutions in select EU Programs.

"The European Commission has stood by Georgia during its significant reform process and will continue providing support for Georgia on its European path. We will also intensify our cooperation with Georgia as the regional frontrunner in the preparatory process ahead of this year's Eastern Partnership Summit", said  Commissioner Hahn.

The program will provide support to the Georgian government in, for example, the energy sector (to regulate the gas market in accordance with the Third EU Energy Package); trade, intellectual property rights, banking, public procurement, migration, and in the participation of Georgia in the EU’s Horizon 2020 (research and innovation) and Creative Europe (culture and creative sector) programs.







































MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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