Georgia must change course to open EU membership talks, says European Commission

The European Commission has said it will not recommend opening EU membership talks with Georgia unless the country changes course, days after the increasingly anti-western Georgian Dream (GD) party won pivotal parliamentary elections amid reports of irregularities and voter intimidation.

The commission recommended that Georgia be granted EU candidate status last year – something Ukraine and Moldova had already achieved – but made clear at the time that this could be withdrawn if the government in Tbilisi did not follow through on agreed reforms.

Since then, the ruling GD party has steered the Caucasus country into a conservative and anti-liberal course, away from the west and closer to Russia, stalling Georgia’s aspirations for EU integration.

In its annual report on EU enlargement, released on Wednesday, the commission said Georgia’s accession process had been “de facto halted”, citing the recent adoption of a contentious “foreign agent” law and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation as reasons. Critics say both measures bear notable similarities to laws passed by the Kremlin years earlier.

The commission also voiced concern over the conduct of Saturday’s parliamentary elections, in which GD won 54% of the vote, a result that will secure its increasingly authoritarian hold on power for another four years.

Georgia’s parliamentary elections were marred by reports of irregularities, leading western powers to call for investigations. Georgia’s pro-western opposition has refused to concede the results, accusing the ruling party of election fraud and organising a “Russian special operation” aimed at pulling it back into Moscow’s orbit and derailing its plan to join the EU.

The European Commission report published on Wednesday had been widely expected to formally freeze Georgia’s EU membership talks, after months of warnings from European officials that the adoption of the foreign agent bill and the government’s anti-western rhetoric would significantly hinder Georgia’s path to EU integration.

Still, the report will deal a blow to many in Georgia, a country long regarded as the most pro-western in the region, where polls show that up to 80% of the population support joining the EU.

Meanwhile, the European Commission hailed Ukraine and Moldova’s efforts to implement reforms in a challenging environment. Both countries began the next stage of EU accession negotiations last June, although it may still take years before either nation achieves full membership in the bloc.

Moldovan voters will head to the polls on Sunday for the second round of the presidential election, choosing between the pro-European incumbent Maia Sandu and the challenger Alexandr Stoianoglo, who advocates for closer ties with Russia.