The FINANCIAL -- The foreign ministers of Poland and Sweden on Wednesday urged Georgia to improve standards at crucial parliamentary polls next month despite political tensions, warning that the EU was watching.

"We would expect these elections to be a significant improvement," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told a news conference on a visit to Tbilisi .

"We are following very closely the electoral campaign. Europe... is watching you," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told the joint news conference alongside Bildt and Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze.

As EUbusiness reported, the governing party of President Mikheil Saakashvili is facing its toughest electoral battle since coming to power after the 2003 Rose Revolution, with a revitalised opposition led by billionaire tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele also said this week they were "concerned about the growing polarisation and tension" around the upcoming polls in the former Soviet republic which has EU membership ambitions.

Related Stories

• “The ECA’s role of external auditor of the EU is more important than ever in its 35-year history”
• World Bank will deepen partnership with Vietnam to achieve further poverty reduction
• PACE to observe the early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria