"Georgia's backwardness is unprecedented for a country that aspires to become a member of the European Union," - the Ambassador of the European Union to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński, said at a briefing.

"Georgia's candidate status was granted in the sense that 9 steps would be taken, which are mainly related to the rule of law and democracy. Unfortunately, there was not enough political commitment from the Georgian leadership to implement the necessary reforms. From the previous year's report, Georgia made slight progress on most of the nine steps. Today's report shows a clear reversal of steps on the fight against disinformation, political polarization, elections and human rights. The report also said that there was also a setback in the most important part which deals with judiciary and fundamental rights. Allow me to say it clearly: this is unprecedented for a country that aspires to become a member of the European Union," said Paweł Herczyński.