Georgian civil society organisations say the recent decision of the Georgian Dream to back out of the April 19 agreement “constitutes a straightforward rejection of Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic course and the peaceful development of the country through democratic reforms”.

“We, the undersigned civil society organizations, would like to react to the statement by the Chair of the ruling party Georgian Dream, Mr. Irakli Kobakhidze, on the withdrawal from the EU brokered so-called Charles Michel agreement signed by the Georgian Dream on April 19.

We believe that this decision by the authorities constitutes a straightforward rejection of Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic course and the peaceful development of the country through democratic reforms. The decision of Georgian Dream is a way to deepen the pre-election political crisis and polarization and only serves a desire to retain the power, for which the “Georgian Dream” is ready to sacrifice the country"s prosperity, Western orientation, democratic development and friendly relations with strategic partners”, - reads the joint statement of NGOs.

Georgian Democratic Initiative (GDI) / Transparency International Georgia (TI Georgia) / Open Society Georgia Foundation (OSGF) / International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) / Shame Movement / Governance Monitoring Center (GMC) / Society and Banks / Sapari / Atlantic Council of Georgia / Human Rights Center (HRC) / Georgia"s Reforms Associates (GRASS) / Democracy Research Institute (DRI) / Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI) / Center for Researching Journalistics and Economic Analytics / Media Development Foundation (MDF) / Social Justice Center (SJC) / European Foundation (EPF) / The Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC) / The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) / Georgian Court Watch / Rights Georgia (RG).