Eka Sepashvili: “Georgia has surpassed 25 NATO members and five Group of Seven nations, ranking the 20th position globally and the 11th position in Europe in terms of corruption control.”

Verdict: FactCheck concludes that Eka Sepashvili’s statement is MOSTLY FALSE.

Analysis:

A parliamentary sitting occurred as Georgia awaited the EU’s decision regarding the provision of candidate status on 12 December 2023. Both the ruling party and the opposition parties issued political statements, addressing matters such as the candidate status itself and the necessary level of readiness for the country during the session. Corruption stands as a pivotal point in this discussion, given that the EU urges aspiring member countries to solve the issue of corruption (refer to the 12 priorities and nine reservations).

“I have data by the World Economic Forum and the World Bank, proving that Georgia has surpassed 25 NATO members and five Group of Seven nations, ranking the 20th position globally and 11th position in Europe in terms of corruption control. This here represents the truth, not a misleading narrative propagated by Gakharia’s party…,” said Eka Sepashvili, a Member of Parliament from the majority party.

FactCheck investigated Eka Sepashvili’s statement:

The World Bank publishes annual country rankings within the Worldwide Governance Indicator framework. These ratings take a multitude of variables into account such as political stability, the absence of violence and terrorism, effective governance, public engagement and government accountability, the rule of law and corruption control.

It is crucial to measure Georgia’s progress in terms of corruption control. Denmark leads the rating by 2.4 points followed by Finland (second place), Norway (fifth place), Sweden (sixth place), the Netherlands (eight place), Germany (tenth place), and so on, as of 2022. Notably, Georgia held the 60th position with 0.6 of a point in the 2022 rating.

The ratings of 19 NATO member states and 17 EU member states exceeded that of Georgia in the aforementioned ranking. On the other hand, Georgia outperformed 12 NATO member countries: Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Greece, Romania, Hungary, Montenegro, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Albania and Turkey. Additionally, Georgia exceeded 12 EU countries; namely Italy, Poland, Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia, Croatia, Greece, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria.

Furthermore, six G7 nations ranked higher than Georgia (Germany, Canada, the UK, Japan, France and the USA). Conversely, Georgia exceeded Italy by only seven places in the 2022 ranking.

Georgia only outperformed 12 and not 25 NATO member countries as evident from the information stated above. As for the EU, the country did not hold the 11th position but was surpassed by 17 EU members. Moreover, Georgia ranked higher than only one and not five G7 states. Considering all of the aforementioned statements, and given that Georgia falls behind most of these countries in terms of corruption control, FactCheck concludes that Eka Sepashvili’s statement is MOSTLY FALSE.