The resolution also calls on the European Commission and other EU institutions not to engage with the government formed by the Georgian Dream party — which has been accused of imposing a string of Russian-style legislation targeting NGOs and the LGBTQ+ community in recent months. MEPs also backed sanctions against senior politicians “responsible for democratic backsliding.”
Negotiators from the main parties represented in the European Parliament, including the European People’s Party (EPP), the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), Renew, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and the Greens, met ahead of Thursday’s vote to agree on the text, a spokesperson told POLITICO.
In a statement, Lithuanian MEP Rasa Juknevičienė, the Parliament’s rapporteur for the country, said: “Georgia’s prospects for European integration are now on the line. The electoral process must be investigated to restore faith in Georgia’s democratic institutions,” she said.
Georgia’s candidacy for membership of the EU was frozen in response to Georgian Dream’s passage of a bill that would brand Western-supported civil society groups and media outlets as “foreign agents,” a move critics say parallels tactics used by Moscow to stifle domestic dissent.
Georgian Dream has denied charges of election rigging. On Thursday, the country’s newly appointed foreign minister, Maka Bochorishvili, said calls from the European Parliament were based on “inaccurate information” and insisted the country was on course to join the bloc by 2030, despite the unprecedented break in relations.
