Georgian Ruling Party Delays EU Membership Talks Until 2028
(Bloomberg) -- Georgia’s government said it won’t enter into talks on joining the European Union for four years, in a move that drew condemnation from the president and deepened questions over the future path of the Black Sea nation.
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“We have decided not to place the issue of EU membership on the agenda until the end of 2028,” Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said on Thursday during a briefing at the Georgian Dream headquarters in Tbilisi. “It is categorically unacceptable to view EU integration as an act of charity.”
Georgia applied to join the EU in 2022 along with Ukraine and Moldova, but the bloc never formally agreed to open the years-long process of negotiating membership.
EU leaders in June said that Georgia’s refusal to reverse a crackdown on civil society had prompted a “de facto” halt to its efforts to join the bloc. They cited the adoption of a “foreign agents” law, which the US and the EU said was similar to one President Vladimir Putin introduced to crush pro-democracy groups in Russia. The controversial legislation forces non-governmental organizations to disclose their sources of funding from abroad.
Georgia’s pro-EU president, Salome Zourabichvili, denounced the premier’s statement and reiterated a call for new elections.
“Today marks the end of the constitutional coup that has been ongoing for several weeks, if not months,” she told reporters after an emergency meeting with foreign ambassadors in the capital, Tbilisi.
Georgian Dream won October parliamentary elections to extend its 12-year rule by four more years, according to the Central Election Commission. Four parties backing a pro-European charter said they’d boycott the parliament, alleging fraud in the vote.
There have been weeks of rallies following the results and crowds of people took to the streets of Tbilisi again late Thursday, with local television also showing demonstrations in other cities.
Legislators on Thursday approved nominees for the new government, including Kobakhidze to continue as prime minister. The party’s lawmakers convened parliament earlier this week for its first session after receiving 89 of 150 assembly seats after the election.
(Adds president’s comments from fifth paragraph)
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