Monday, 13th June, 2022

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Even if Ukraine does receive candidate status,
joining the EU would likely take many years
European Union leaders
are to decide later this
month whether to welcome
Ukraine, Moldova
and Georgia as candidate
states for membership of the European
Union.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine
prompted the three former Soviet
republics to submit emergency
applications in the first weeks of
the war.
Ukraine's prospects look
promising, and so do Moldova's. But
Georgia was slapped with a scathing
European Parliament resolution on
Thursday, described by one MEP as
the last "wake-up call" to the government
in Tbilisi.
Ukraine has led the way in arguing
that joining the EU has become
a geopolitical necessity, although
the three states are known as the
Association Trio for their co-operation
with the EU on everything
from political reforms to free trade.
Addressing MEPs in Strasbourg
earlier this month, Ukraine's parliament
speaker Ruslan Stefanchyk
said granting candidate status
would empower the Ukrainian people,
while "any other signal would
only benefit Russian President Vladimir
Putin and his regime".
Moldova's pro-EU President,
Maia Sandu, told Euro MPs last
month that her country still had a
long way to go. But she reminded
them that many Moldovans could
hear the bombs falling on the
Ukrainian city of Odesa from their
homes.
In the run-up to the EU's decision,
Brussels think-tank the Centre
for European Studies published
reports on Ukraine and Moldova's
applications.
A
total of 166 Covid infections
in China have
been linked to a single
bar in the capital Beijing,
officials say.
A government spokesman described
the outbreak as "ferocious".
All residents living in the area
where the bar is located will be
tested over the next three days.
The number of infections in
the city is low by international
standards but high for China,
which is the world's only major
economy still maintaining a "zero
Covid" policy.
The outbreak was traced to a
venue called the Heaven Supermarket
Bar, in the well-known
entertainment area of Sanlitun in
Chaoyang district.
Two buildings housing hundreds
of people in Chaoyang were
put under strict lockdown on
It said Ukraine faced an existential
crisis, while Moldova was
"next at risk" from Russian aggression.
It recommended that the EU
should extend candidate status to
both countries. That status far from
guarantees entry to the EU, but
does represent a significant step on
the path.
On Georgia, the report said the
formal access process would be
premature.
Its economic reforms had surpassed
both Ukraine and Moldova
and other EU candidate states, it
said. But on democracy, the government
had contradicted "the EU's
fundamental values".
On Thursday the European Parliament
backed a strongly worded
resolution calling on Georgia to
uphold the highest standards of
democracy and rule of law. It said
press freedom had been declining
dramatically and condemned the
intimidation and persecution of
journalists.
Last summer more than 50 media
workers were hurt in far-right
violence, but the government failed
to prosecute any of the organisers.
Instead it has launched criminal
investigations into owners of independent
media channels critical of
the government.
The head of Georgia's leading
opposition Mtavari TV channel,
Nika Gvaramia, was jailed last
month for three and a half years,
in what Amnesty International
described as a "blatant act of politically
motivated prosecution".
"I am a political prisoner and
the timing of my imprisonment is
deliberate," he wrote in a letter to
the BBC delivered by his lawyers.
Gvaramia, who was found
DAILY ANALYST Monday, 13th June, 2022
guilty of misusing company funds,
said his imprisonment was a message
from the Georgian government
"aimed at the open and aggressive
sabotage of Georgia's European
future".
Georgia's government has
rejected the criticism, describing
Gvaramia as an opposition leader
hiding behind journalism. The head
of the ruling party added that the
resolution from Brussels had nothing
to do with European values.
Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili
said earlier this month he
expected a "wise decision from the
European Union".
"Let's be open and frank here.
When Russia invaded Georgia in
2008 no-one in this world imposed
sanctions."
That led to a sense of impunity
in Moscow, he argued, prompting
Russia's invasion of Crimea in 2014
and the launch of full-scale war
against Ukraine in February.
The prime minister said Georgia
deserved as much recognition from
the EU as Moldova and Ukraine:
"The answer from the West must
be adequate, relevant: it must be
proportional."
The EU has been encouraging
the Georgian government to make
good on promised reforms, in
particular to build an independent
judiciary.
But the treatment of ex-President
Mikheil Saakashvili and other
opposition figures has raised alarm.
Saakashvili, who was in power at
the time of the Russian invasion
of Georgia, was detained when he
returned last year to back the opposition
in elections.
Both he and Nika Gvaramia say
they are victims of a political vendetta
by the country's sole oligarch,
Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Mr Ivanishvili, who made his
fortune in Russia, founded the
governing Georgian Dream Party
in 2011. And while he is no longer
chairman, his influence in politics
remains a matter of concern for
Brussels.
A recent investigation by
anti-corruption watchdog Transparency
International Georgia alleged
that Mr Ivanishvili may still have
Covid: Dozens of Covid cases
linked to Beijing bar
Sunday after a positive case was
reported, a residential committee
worker told Reuters news agency.
Some people in Beijing said
they were sent texts telling them
to report to authorities if they had
recently visited Sanlitun's bars.
Chinese officials have reversed
the relaxation of some Covid rules
in Beijing because of the outbreak.
Most children in the capital
will not return to school next
week as originally planned, officials
said.
The capital has reported 1,997
local Covid cases since 22 April.
China's overall policy of "zero
Covid" remains in place and people
catching Covid face quarantine
or hospital.
Their close contacts also face
the prospect of removal to quarantine
and the area immediately
around where they live being
locked down again.
The city of Shanghai, the country's
economic centre and a global
trade hub, recently eased Covid
curbs after a two-month lockdown.
Global News
Russia's war prompts regional
rush to become EU candidates
Beijing has reported
1,997 local Covid cases
since 22 April
business interests in Russia.
The European Parliament's
resolution calls for the businessman
to face EU sanctions, highlighting
his personal and business links to
the Kremlin. He denies being close
to the Russian leadership.
Like Ukrainians and Moldovans,
Georgians are overwhelmingly in
favour of EU membership according
A
former British soldier
has been killed fighting
for the Ukrainian
armed forces, his family
has said.
Jordan Gatley, who left the
British army in March and travelled
to Ukraine, was described as
"a hero" by his father Dean in a
tribute on social media.
He died in the battle for the
eastern city of Severodonetsk,
which has seen intense fighting in
recent days.
The Foreign Office has said it is
"supporting the family of a British
man who has died in Ukraine".
Mr Gatley's father wrote in a
Facebook post that his son had
been helping train local forces. He
added that Jordan was fatally shot
on the front line while defending
the city and they were informed of
his death on Friday.
He had gone to Ukraine to help
"after careful consideration", he
said.
According to the Facebook post,
the family "had several messages
from his team out there telling
us of his wealth of knowledge, his
skills as a soldier and his love of
his job".
"His team say they all loved
him, as did we, and he made a massive
difference to many people's
lives, not only soldiering, but also
by training the Ukrainian forces,"
the statement continued.
"Jordan and his team were so
proud of the work they were doing
and he often told me that the
missions they were going on were
dangerous, but necessary.
"He loved his job and we are so
proud of him," Mr Gatley wrote,
adding: "He truly was a hero and
will forever be in our hearts."
The BBC understands Mr
Gatley served in the British army
as a rifleman with the Edinburgh-based
third battalion of The
to opinion polls.
The question is whether the EU
would want to risk disappointing
the majority of Georgians. President
Salome Zurabishvili said in Brussels
this week that European leaders had
now recognised the "true face of
Russia" - and the only answer was
the European Union.
Jordan Gatley's family shared a picture of him in Ukraine
Ukraine war: Former
British soldier Jordan
Gatley killed in fighting
Rifles and was discharged from the
forces in March before travelling to
Ukraine.
There has been fierce street
fighting in Severodonetsk with
heavy artillery said to be causing
huge casualties for both Russian
and Ukrainian forces.
The region's governor Serhiy
Haidai has told Ukrainian TV that
Russian shelling has caused a huge
fire at a chemical plant in the city.
Up to 800 civilians are hiding in
underground bomb shelters at
the plant, Ukrainian officials have
estimated.
Fighting around Severodonetsk
has lasted for more than three
months, as Russia shifted its focus
from trying to take the capital Kyiv
to capturing the Luhansk and the
Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine
- a mostly industrial area known as
Donbas.
Seizing Severodonetsk and its
twin city of Lysychansk would
move Russia closer to its goal as
it would give them control over
Luhansk.
Mr Gatley is the second Briton
to be killed in the conflict after the
death of Scott Sibley in April.
Mr Sibley was described as a
"friend like no other".
A post on the Logistics Support
Squadron Facebook page described
him as a "former serving soldier"
of the squadron and said he had
"showed Commando spirit until
the end".
The Foreign Office advises
against all travel to Ukraine and
the Ministry of Defence has said
that Britons who go to join the
fighting following the Russian
invasion may be committing a
criminal offence and would be
liable to prosecution.
In March, the head of the British
armed forces said that Britons
should not go to Ukraine to fight
and should find other ways to help.