No one should have an unhealthy influence on political, legislative, legal decisions for his own or others’ benefit, European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, said after a meeting with Prime Minister of Georgia, when asked a question about who is the addressee of the European Commission recommendation relating to de-oligarchization.

“Do you think that I know so much about Georgian politics? I don’t think so. What I do know is that there are 12 recommendations written very clearly. The criteria do not apply to any particular person.

This is the framework of the system that we have proposed, the legal framework within which the media operates and which guarantees that there will be freedom. In this framework, people will have access to information, to the media that will provide information to the population, and the same applies to the law on oligarchs. The EU does not choose which oligarchs are good and which are bad. The idea is to clearly define these criteria.

No one should have unhealthy influence on political, legislative, legal decisions for his own good or for the good of others, which will ultimately be good for him. Our criteria are always general and never linked to any individual.

That is why, when it comes to the law on de-oligarchization, we request the existence of a legal framework that will regulate this system - we suggest the Government to submit this draft law to the Venice Commission for evaluation and see how much this legal instrument will lead to the goal that is written in these priorities“, - said Olivér Várhelyi.