Page 9 - GEORptOct21

and throughout the world with corruption-free and effective governance.”
For the effective control of corruption, Georgia was ranked 45th of 189 countries of World Bank member countries and was placed in the top 50. In the European context, Georgia is ranked 19th. To compare, Georgia was ranked 62nd in the study published in 2012, said Gharibashvili.
Gharibashvili also noted that for effective governance, Georgia has been ranked 38th among the World Bank's member 189 countries. He said that in the same indicator Georgia ranked 50th in 2012.
Overall, Gharibashvili said that the current assessment of Georgia was three times better than the results demonstrated in 2011-2012.
2.4 US ‘seriously doubts’ Georgian government’s commitment to democratic election process
The US Embassy in Tbilisi stated on September 22 that “the violent, seemingly politically motivated attacks” in Dmanisi and Rustavi the previous day, along with “numerous reports of pressure and intimidation against opposition candidates and their supporters throughout the country, raises serious doubts about the government’s commitment to a safe, fair pre-election environment and a democratic election process”.
Noting that violence was unacceptable in an election campaign, the Embassy stressed that the government bore “primary responsibility” for ensuring a free, fair, competitive election that voters could have confidence in.
“The Government of Georgia should redouble its efforts to ensure that candidates and their supporters can exercise their democratic rights of free speech and assembly, without threats of intimidation, harassment, or violence, and take proactive steps to hold accountable those who commit election violations,” the Embassy asserted.
It then noted that all parties had a civic duty to promote a peaceful atmosphere in which citizens could discuss the issues, express their preferences, and choose their candidates free from the threat of violence and intimidation.
2.5 EU ‘taking appropriate steps’ on Georgia’s alleged spying on EU diplomats
Peter Stano, lead spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy of the European Union, stated on September 17 that alleged spying conducted on the EU diplomatic mission in Georgia “is a very serious matter.”
“This is a very serious matter since it has implications in the framework of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” Stano was cited as saying by Rikard Jozwiak of RFE/RL on Twitter.
“We’re taking appropriate steps in this context as we always do in such situations, but given the nature of the alleged incident, we will not say more at the moment,” added the lead spokesperson.
Georgian media outlets reported that recently leaked alleged files of the State
9 GEORGIA Country Report October 2021 www.intellinews.com