Georgia’s bid to join the European Union has suffered a major setback, with an EU diplomat warning the country has moved backward on its path toward membership after Brussels delivered what he described as a “devastating” update on its prospects.
Pawel Herczynski, the EU ambassador to Georgia, said Tuesday that the South Caucasus nation was now further from joining the bloc than when it first became a candidate in 2023.
The European Commission’s report, published the same day, said the EU could welcome new members as early as 2030 and commended Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, and Moldova for advancing the necessary reforms. But it accused Georgia of “serious democratic backsliding,” saying the former Soviet republic was a candidate country “in name only.”
“The findings of the report are unfortunately devastating for Georgia’s European aspirations,” Herczynski told reporters in Tbilisi. “Georgia is not on the trajectory to become an EU member state, neither in 2030 nor later.”
Once seen as one of the most democratic and pro-Western post-Soviet states, Georgia has taken an increasingly authoritarian turn since Russia’s war in Ukraine began, deepening its economic ties with Moscow.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has jailed opposition politicians and intensified arrests of protesters attending regular anti-government demonstrations.
Although Georgian Dream announced last year that it was freezing EU accession talks, the government insists it still seeks membership while safeguarding what it calls the country’s “traditional Orthodox Christian values.”
Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili accused the EU of attempting to impose “ideological and political dictates” on Tbilisi.
“Blackmailing and pressuring Georgia will not work. We are not going to give up. Georgia will continue to prepare the country for EU membership,” Papuashvili said, as cited by Interpress News.
Last week, Georgian Dream said it would file a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court to ban the country’s three main opposition parties, alleging they posed a “real threat to the constitutional order.” The opposition dismissed the planned move as politically motivated.
