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EU Parliament Ratifies Association Deal With Georgia

© Flickr / jo.schzThe European Parliament ratified on Thursday its association agreement with Georgia following a vote at a plenary sitting in Strasbourg, France.
The European Parliament ratified on Thursday its association agreement with Georgia following a vote at a plenary sitting in Strasbourg, France. - Sputnik International
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The document, signed in June of this year, was adopted by an overwhelming majority of 490-76, with 57 abstained.

The European Council announced Tuesday that the mandate of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM Georgia) has been extended until December 14, 2016 - Sputnik International
EU Extends Monitoring Mission in Georgia for Two More Years: EU Council
BRUSSELS, December 18 (Sputnik) — The European Parliament ratified on Thursday its association agreement with Georgia following a vote at a plenary sitting in Strasbourg, France.

The document, signed in June of this year, was adopted by an overwhelming majority of 490-76, with 57 abstained.

The sitting was attended by Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili and his predecessor Mikhail Saakashvili, who is on the Georgian wanted list.

On June 27, Georgia inked an agreement with the European Union in Brussels that would open a free trade zone with the 28-member bloc. The same day, Moldova and Ukraine signed association agreements with the European Union in a bid to integrate in the European domestic market.

Georgia first sought to join the EU free trade zone back in 2010. A draft agreement to this effect was rolled out in 2013 and signed a year later. It took the parliament of Georgia less than a month to ratify the deal.

The EU-Georgia Association Agreement consists of three parts: political cooperation, cooperation in various sectors of economy and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA).

Most of the agreement's provisions came into force on September 1.

Georgia's move toward tighter economic relations with Europe prompted Russia to warn Tbilisi that Moscow might be forced to scrap their 1994 bilateral agreement on free trade. It stressed that Georgia's trade deal with Brussels could trigger an uncontrolled flow of duty-free goods from the European Union, forcing Russia to protect its market.

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