Georgia Reached Association Agreement With EU due to Western PR Firms

© Flickr / European External Action ServiceSignature ceremony of the Association Agreements between the EU and Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine
Signature ceremony of the Association Agreements between the EU and Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine - Sputnik International
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The 64-page study titled "Spin doctors to the autocrats: how European PR firms whitewash repressive regimes" examines cases of "repressive regimes" worldwide hiring Western PR professionals to improve their international and domestic image.

The European Parliament ratified on Thursday its association agreement with Georgia following a vote at a plenary sitting in Strasbourg, France. - Sputnik International
EU Parliament Ratifies Association Deal With Georgia
MOSCOW, January 20 (Sputnik) — Georgia's signing of an association agreement with the European Union in 2014, happened largely thanks to the help of Western PR agencies, a report by the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) published on Tuesday revealed.

The 64-page study titled "Spin doctors to the autocrats: how European PR firms whitewash repressive regimes" examines cases of "repressive regimes" worldwide hiring Western PR professionals to improve their international and domestic image.

"Brussels-based PR firm Cambre Associates has been paid €40,000 [more than $46,200] a month to support and advise Georgia in media relations and its moves towards the EU and NATO, according to a contract from March 2013…The relations with the EU have indeed improved," the report said, noting that in 2014 Georgia signed an association agreement with the EU.

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
According to the report, Cambre Associates proved its efficiency in September 2013, when Georgia's billionaire and then-Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili mentioned that he was "studying" the opportunity of joining the Eurasian Economic Union.

"His PR team at Cambre immediately began firefighting," the report said. Cambre issued a release in Brussels which clarified that "While not ruling out the possibility of joining such a union in the future, should it be judged in the national interest, he [Ivanishvili] stated that 'At this stage, we have no position at all.' "

The study also notes that even though Ivanishvili criticized his predecessors and opponents, including the country's former President Mikheil Saakashvili, for the heavy use of Western PR support, he himself "came to power on a veritable tide of lobbying money spent in Brussels and Washington."

According to the report, during his election campaign Ivanishvili was spending some $4 million a month on PR and lobbying conducted mainly by US experts.

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