The European Union has put the brakes on Georgia’s accession process after its parliament passed a law last month requiring organizations receiving more than 20% of their funding from overseas to register as “agents of foreign influence”.
Brussels has also pulled the plug on tens of millions of euros in funding for the South Caucasus country, including for its military.
Tbilisi enacted the law, which critics say mirrors Russian legislation designed to gag NGOs and stifle dissent, just six months after being granted EU candidate status. Brussels’ ambassador to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński, said on Tuesday that “regrettably, Georgia’s EU accession process is stopped for now,” adding that “it is sad to see EU-Georgia relations at such a low point, when they could have been at an all-time high.”
Herczyński also said the decision to freeze membership talks would entail the suspension of €30 million from the European Peace Facility.
“The first victim of this decision… will be the Georgian Defense Forces, and this is personally disappointing for me,” the ambassador said, elaborating that in his previous position in charge of security and defense at the European External Action Service, he had “really fought for many years for Georgia to be one of the ‘European Peace Foundation,’ to be the biggest beneficiary.”
“Together with my colleagues, we fought for the support of the Defense Forces of Georgia to be bigger and bigger every year, and this has been going on for the last few years…” he said, as quoted by Interpress News, “and this year the support has been stopped.”
The EU ambassador went on to say that halting accession and cutting funding was the first measure but there would be more to come.
Herczyński said the move was due to “recent decisions by the Georgian parliament” and limited progress on nine ‘steps’ or reforms required by Brussels, Poland’s state press agency PAP reported.
“The law on transparency of foreign influence [the so-called foreign agents law] is clearly a step backwards in relation to the nine steps,” PAP quoted him as saying, citing the Newsgeorgia outlet. “Also anti-Western and anti-European rhetoric is absolutely inconsistent with the stated aim of joining the EU.”
The contested law was introduced by the ruling Georgian Dream party, which insists it is needed to counter growing foreign influence in the country’s affairs. The party has claimed Western-backed NGOs have tried to incite a coup in Georgia. The country’s prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, accused the EU in May of threatening him with the same fate as Slovakian premier Robert Fico, who survived an assassination attempt in May. The shooting in Slovakia, Kobakhidze claimed, was orchestrated by intelligence services, but such comments have fueled criticism that he is trying to curry favor with Moscow and seeking closer ties with the country’s former Soviet-era ruler.
Following the law’s enactment, thousands of protesters took to the streets and were dispersed by riot police. Opposition leaders have also reportedly been detained and beaten by security forces, in events condemned by Brussels and Washington. In May, the U.S. imposed sanctions on some Georgian Dream politicians and, in early July, Washington announced the suspension of planned military exercises.
Tbilisi enacted the law, which critics say mirrors Russian legislation designed to gag NGOs and stifle dissent, just six months after being granted EU candidate status. Brussels’ ambassador to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński, said on Tuesday that “regrettably, Georgia’s EU accession process is stopped for now,” adding that “it is sad to see EU-Georgia relations at such a low point, when they could have been at an all-time high.”
Herczyński also said the decision to freeze membership talks would entail the suspension of €30 million from the European Peace Facility.
“The first victim of this decision… will be the Georgian Defense Forces, and this is personally disappointing for me,” the ambassador said, elaborating that in his previous position in charge of security and defense at the European External Action Service, he had “really fought for many years for Georgia to be one of the ‘European Peace Foundation,’ to be the biggest beneficiary.”
“Together with my colleagues, we fought for the support of the Defense Forces of Georgia to be bigger and bigger every year, and this has been going on for the last few years…” he said, as quoted by Interpress News, “and this year the support has been stopped.”
The EU ambassador went on to say that halting accession and cutting funding was the first measure but there would be more to come.
Herczyński said the move was due to “recent decisions by the Georgian parliament” and limited progress on nine ‘steps’ or reforms required by Brussels, Poland’s state press agency PAP reported.
“The law on transparency of foreign influence [the so-called foreign agents law] is clearly a step backwards in relation to the nine steps,” PAP quoted him as saying, citing the Newsgeorgia outlet. “Also anti-Western and anti-European rhetoric is absolutely inconsistent with the stated aim of joining the EU.”
The contested law was introduced by the ruling Georgian Dream party, which insists it is needed to counter growing foreign influence in the country’s affairs. The party has claimed Western-backed NGOs have tried to incite a coup in Georgia. The country’s prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, accused the EU in May of threatening him with the same fate as Slovakian premier Robert Fico, who survived an assassination attempt in May. The shooting in Slovakia, Kobakhidze claimed, was orchestrated by intelligence services, but such comments have fueled criticism that he is trying to curry favor with Moscow and seeking closer ties with the country’s former Soviet-era ruler.
Following the law’s enactment, thousands of protesters took to the streets and were dispersed by riot police. Opposition leaders have also reportedly been detained and beaten by security forces, in events condemned by Brussels and Washington. In May, the U.S. imposed sanctions on some Georgian Dream politicians and, in early July, Washington announced the suspension of planned military exercises.
Source: PAP, Politico, Interpress News, Newsgeorgia
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