TAX AND CORRUPTION DOMINATE EU-GEORGIA DISCUSSIONS.

Tax revenues in Georgia are among the lowest in the world and barely allow for the accomplishment of state functions, let alone social expenditure on health and education. That is why the subject was high on the agenda of the fourth Joint EU-Georgia Committee, which took place in Tbilisi on December 14. The very low level of salaries in the public sector often explains the search for other, illegal sources of revenue. Measures aimed at staff reduction and an increase of public sector salaries need to be coupled to retraining of civil servants, if the fight against corruption is to be successful, the European Commission believes. A TACIS-funded Civil Service Reform and Training Project has trained over 1,000 civil servants to date, and...