The EU’s insistence on deep economic integration Sample Clauses

The EU’s insistence on deep economic integration. In the late 2000s, the Georgian authorities’ resistance to the adoption of EU norms shaped the EU‘s approach to the AA/DCFTA. In fact, it substantially contributed to the toughening of the EU‘s stance on deep economic integration. 25 This section has benefitted from one of the authors’ direct experience in delivering technical assistance to the Georgian government on matters related to European integration during 2004-2017. In late 0000x, Xxxxxxx offered an illustration of the limited impact of the ENP on domestic policy priorities, when these diverge from the EU‘s approach. In fact, the Georgian authorities attempted to actively shape the substance of the Georgian-EU ENP AP in line with their preferences. For instance, during the negotiation of the first ENP AP in 2006 Georgia sought to prioritize conflict resolution and to increase the EU’s involvement in the conflict. Its inclusion would have been noteworthy had Georgia managed to upload its preferences into the ENP – instead, the failure to achieve it vis-à-vis the European Commission contributed to the perception of the ENP as a somewhat alien policy (European Commission 2006b). The implementation of the ENP AP revealed the Georgian authorities’ distinct inclination to implement only those priorities which coincided with their own preferences. In fact, actions planned under the ENP were not even approved by the government. In essence, the Georgian authorities consistently ignored the ENP AP regarding it as both irrelevant and, most importantly, incompatible with their own priorities, which were centred on the fight against corruption and the deregulation of the economy. Legal approximation (as included in the ENP AP and previously agreed in the PCA) was regarded as a source of excessive, unnecessary regulation. Georgia‘s preference for deregulation was a key factor in the country‘s resistance to deep economic integration. In fact, the government of Georgia opposed the very concept of a DCFTA and favoured a simple free-trade agreement instead. According to the Georgian authorities, a simple free-trade agreement would have offered more favourable conditions for Georgian exports than the Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP+) system (which applied to approximately half of Georgian products) by covering a wider range of products. At the same time, it would not have entailed a far-reaching legal approximation process that many in Georgia considered risky for the country’s economic performance. By contras...