Georgia’s accession to the European Union has been halted, and part of the financial support to that country has been frozen after the Georgian authorities adopted a new law that is feared to limit democratic freedoms, EU Ambassador to Georgia Pavel Herczynski said today.
According to him, the EU leaders made the decision to stop the process during the last summit of the European Council, and it followed after the Georgian authorities adopted the law on “foreign influence” despite several weeks of protests.
In addition, a total of 30 million euros of financial support, intended for the Ministry of Defense of Georgia in 2024, has been frozen, Herchinski said at a press conference.
“This is only the first step, and there will be others. Our direct support to the government of Georgia will be limited and we will try to redirect that support to civil society and the media. It is sad to see EU-Georgia relations at such a low point, when they could be at their peak.” , he added.
The law, which came into force last month despite mass protests and a veto by the country’s president, requires media, NGOs and other non-profit groups to register as “foreign agents” if they receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.
The opposition has denounced the bill as a “Russian law” as Moscow uses a similar law to stigmatize independent media, organizations and individuals critical of the Kremlin, arguing that its adoption is a sign of Russian influence in Georgia.
EU officials have repeatedly condemned the law as undemocratic and said it would hinder Georgia’s path to EU membership.
The European Union agreed to grant Georgia candidate status in December on the condition that it combats disinformation, aligns its foreign and security policy with the EU and implements judicial reforms.
At a June 27 summit, EU leaders warned Georgia that its path to membership would be blocked unless the “foreign influence” law was repealed.
They called on the Georgian authorities to make their intentions clear by reversing current policies that threaten Georgia’s path to the EU, de facto bringing the accession process to a halt.
A few days before the summit, the EU’s high representative for foreign policy and security, Josep Borrell, said the EU was considering suspending financial aid to the government in Tbilisi and reducing political contacts.
The US suspended military exercises in Georgia earlier this month, which the US Defense Department said was part of a comprehensive review of relations between Washington and Tbilisi.
The President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, who has been in conflict with the government of that country for a long time, today called the moves of the EU and the US very difficult messages from two closest friends that are worth listening to.
“Even though this is a response to the ruling party’s stupid and hostile policy towards them, it is also a warning to society. Our partners tell us that the choice is up to us, between Georgia with a secure European future and Georgia that will be part of the Russian orbit,” Zurabichvili said, Beta writes.
