From the correspondent in Strasbourg– With the Parliamentary elections on October 26 just around the corner, and a strongly pro-Russian and anti-liberal government, democracy in Georgia is at risk. The European Parliament has adopted a resolution in response to Georgian estrangement from the European Union and its values, with the prospect of membership looking increasingly difficult.
The EU had promised that it would not let the Georgian government’s actions slide, and the resolution puts it in black and white that Georgia must fulfil the commitments it has made since it submitted its application for EU entry.
There is talk of “democratic regression” and a “climate of hatred and intimidation” for Georgia, which has adopted laws that are “incompatible with the democratic values and principles of the EU” and obviously hold back (if not block) the Georgian accession process. “Deep concern for Russia’s increased influence in Georgia” for the EU Parliament, which is also confirmed by the Georgian Dream party’s use of war imagery in Ukraine to manipulate public opinion.
A strong condemnation regarding the criminalization of opposition forces comes from oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili and prominent figures in government. Also, on the subject of countering political opponents, MEPs are pushing the country’s Bureau of Investigation to investigate the brutal repressions of pro-EU demonstrations.
Candidate country status was granted to Georgia in the belief that the Commission’s recommendations to reach European standards would be followed. “The recently adopted legislation is clearly at odds with this ambition and has effectively suspended Georgia’s integration into the EU,” the recommendation reads. The call to the EU and member states is to proceed against those who undermine democracy in the country, including with personal sanctions (as the US has already done toward Georgian Dream members).
Elections are a hot topic for MEPs, and there is a strong demand that the highest international standards for democratic, fair and free elections be ensured and, above all, the will and free choice of the Georgian people, which the ruling party, Georgian Dream, definitely holds in low regard, to be respected.
The political situation in Georgia
The Georgian political situation is complex, given the division between a pro-EU population and a government that looks to Putin’s Russia.
In May this year a law was enacted on “transparency of foreign influence,” reminiscent, not too vaguely, of Russia’s one. The law requires organizations that receive more than 20 per cent of their funding from abroad to register as an “organization that pursues the interests of a foreign power.” Here is the first obvious rift with the EU on the path to membership.
The”stop to the accession process” resulted for Georgia in the freezing of the European Peace Fund from the EU, effectively blocking €30 million for the current year. The EU Ambassador to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński, stated that “other measures are being considered if the situation deteriorates further.” Today’s resolution confirms the freeze on funding “until the undemocratic laws are repealed.”
In September, the approval of an additional measure related to “family values and the protection of children” gave a further blow to pro-European Georgia. The law “undermines the fundamental rights of the Georgian people,” per the European External Action Service (EEAS). The recognition and protection of the family only as a union between a man (“biologically male”) and a woman (“biologically female”) has a strong impact on Georgian civil society, threatening the rights of the Lgbtq+ community.
The European Parliament decided to send a strong signal, hoping that Oct. 26 would get Georgia and its increasingly claudicant democracy back on track. For one thing, the law on “transparency of foreign influences” has “effectively removed the obligation to have national observers,” whose presence for the EU Parliament could have fostered transparency.
There is no unity in the decision, since the small far-right group ESN, Europe of Sovereign Nations, had proposed an opposite amendment to the adopted text. Among the 495 in favour were the EPP almost en bloc and S&D, Patriots for Europe split between for and against (and a few abstentions), and ESN remained in opposition. As we await the elections, Europe speaks clearly: Georgia must completely reverse course, shifting its favour from Russia to Europe, or membership will become another “Georgian dream.”
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
