The EBA’s 2026 White Book includes new recommendations on employment contract flexibility and calls for a ministerial working group on labour market modernisation.
The European Business Association Georgia published its annual White Book on business environment in July 2026, with a dedicated chapter on labour market conditions. The White Book — which represents the policy positions of approximately 250 EU-headquartered companies operating in Georgia — includes a set of recommendations on employment law reform that differ in emphasis from the positions of Georgian social partners, while sharing some common ground on the need for overall labour law modernisation.
The EBA’s labour chapter focuses on three main areas. First, it calls for greater flexibility in fixed-term employment contracts, arguing that the current Labour Code provisions requiring justification for consecutive fixed-term contracts create administrative burden for employers in project-based sectors. Second, it recommends simplification of dismissal procedures, noting that the current procedural requirements — written warnings, specified notice periods, documentation requirements — are appropriate for large enterprises but disproportionately burdensome for SMEs. Third, it supports an increase in the statutory minimum wage, placing the EBA among the business associations that have publicly endorsed this reform, with a recommended level of GEL 650–750 per month.
The EBA’s position on fixed-term contracts and dismissal flexibility places it in tension with GTUC’s positions on employment security. GTUC has consistently argued that greater contract flexibility creates conditions for more, not less, precarious employment, and that the documented high rate of unlawful dismissal cases suggests that existing procedural requirements are inadequate, not excessive. The Solidarity Network’s annual violations report data is consistent with GTUC’s position: dismissal cases are the second largest category of violations, not because the law is unclear, but because enforcement is weak.
On minimum wage, the EBA joins AmCham Georgia, the Business Association of Georgia, and GTUC in calling for reform — an unusual instance of labour market consensus across ideological lines. The convergence of business and labour on this issue creates a political opportunity that the government has, to date, declined to use.
The White Book also includes a new recommendation not present in previous editions: the establishment of a ministerial working group on labour market modernisation, co-chaired by representatives of the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Economy, with participation from EBA, GTUC, and GEA. This recommendation echoes the GILS position on the need for a more functional institutional architecture for labour policy reform.
GILS Note: The EBA White Book is an important annual reference for the positions of European businesses operating in Georgia. Its labour chapter is available in full on the EBA website. For the GILS assessment of the EBA’s role in Georgian social dialogue, see the EBA organisation profile.
Read the full GILS analysis: https://labour.edu.ge/org-eba/