As much as 81% of the pop­u­la­tion of Georgia doesn’t know what the European Union Mon­i­tor­ing Mission (EUMM) does, according to the 2017 Knowledge of and Attitudes towards the European Union in Georgia survey funded by the Europe Foun­da­tion and imple­ment­ed by CRRC-Georgia. This lack of knowledge has increased over time, as has the preva­lence of incorrect infor­ma­tion about the EUMM’s mission. This rep­re­sents a missed oppor­tu­ni­ty for the EU’s com­mu­ni­ca­tions in Georgia.

On the survey, respon­dents were asked, ‘What does the European Union Mon­i­tor­ing Mission do in Georgia?’ A large plurality of the pop­u­la­tion (41%) reported they did not know what the EUMM does. The second most common response (25%) was ‘supports the imple­men­ta­tion of demo­c­ra­t­ic and market oriented reforms’, an incorrect answer. The third most common response (19%) was ‘supports the sta­bil­i­sa­tion of the situation in the areas affected by the August 2008 war’, the EUMM’s actual mission.

The share of the public aware of what the EUMM does has declined over time, in 2009, 39% of the pop­u­la­tion knew what the EUMM did. This decline may stem from the rel­a­tive­ly high salience of the Mon­i­tor­ing Mission in the years imme­di­ate­ly following the 2008 August War with Russia, although no data exists which would confirm this.

Besides the decline in knowledge of what the EUMM does, inac­cu­rate infor­ma­tion about the organ­i­sa­tion has become more prevalent. While only 24% of the public gave an inac­cu­rate answer to the question in 2009, 38% did in 2017. Notably, there was a large increase in don’t know responses in 2015 and a sizeable decline in 2017. Rather than an increase in correct responses in 2017, however, the data suggests that a lack of knowledge was replaced by incorrect infor­ma­tion.

The lack of knowledge about the EUMM is most pro­nounced in ethnic minority set­tle­ments, with only 2% of indi­vid­u­als in minority com­mu­ni­ties correctly respond­ing to the question. The lack of knowledge in minority set­tle­ments should come as no surprise given that surveys in these com­mu­ni­ties regularly have high rates of don’t know responses.

In contrast, those living in rural set­tle­ments with a pre­dom­i­nant­ly ethnic Georgian pop­u­la­tion provide the correct response most often. The fact that the rural pop­u­la­tion is more informed than urban pop­u­la­tions may stem from the EUMM’s rural presence. While the organ­i­sa­tion has offices in four urban set­tle­ments — Tbilisi, Mtskheta, Zugdidi, and Gori — they regularly patrol the rural areas sur­round­ing the admin­is­tra­tive boundary lines with Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Although the public is increas­ing­ly unaware of what the EUMM does, about two thirds of people who provided incorrect answers to the question about the EUMM’s mission would like to have more infor­ma­tion about the EU. About a quarter even want infor­ma­tion specif­i­cal­ly about the EU’s role in resolving Georgia’s ter­ri­to­r­i­al conflicts.

The lack of knowledge of what the European Union Mon­i­tor­ing Mission does in Georgia may represent a missed oppor­tu­ni­ty for the EU. While no data is available about the attitudes of people who have had contact with the EUMM, previous research in Georgia has suggested that indi­vid­u­als contacted by NGOs report greater trust in them. The EUMM, given its public service mission, may receive a com­pa­ra­ble boost from contact with the public. Hence, the EU should consider increas­ing its outreach and com­mu­ni­ca­tions related to the EUMM.

This article was written by Dustin Gilbreath, a Policy Analyst at CRRC-Georgia. The views presented in this article are the author’s alone and do not nec­es­sar­i­ly reflect the views of CRRC-Georgia, Europe Foun­da­tion, or OC Media.

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