Georgian Dream General Secretary Kakha Kaladze has called Germany’s deputy foreign minister an ‘ordinary Kubilius in a dress’ after she said that his party is ‘creating obstacles’ on the path to EU membership.

‘I don’t know who that lady is. She’s just an ordinary Kubilius in a dress,’ Kaladze remarked on Monday, in response to criticism from Anna Lührmann, Germany’s Minister of State for Europe and Climate. He was comparing her to former Lithuanian Prime Minister and current MEP Andrius Kubilius, an outspoken critic of the Georgian government.

His statement followed an EU Council of Foreign Affairs session in Luxembourg the day before, in which Lührmann stressed that while Germany supported Georgia’s EU membership bid, ‘this does not apply to the current Georgian government’.

‘It is absolutely clear that we support Georgia on its path to joining the European Union; however, this does not apply to the current Georgian government, which is creating obstacles on this path to the EU’, she said.

Later that day, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, warned that Georgian Dream’s actions and rhetoric signalled a ‘shift towards authoritarianism’.

‘That’s why the EU accession process is de facto halted’, Borrel stated following the Council meeting. 

‘Let’s wait for the upcoming parliamentary elections, which will be a crucial test for democracy in Georgia and its European Union path’, he said.

Borrell also said that the situation in Georgia was ‘bleak’ compared to Moldova, which has forged ahead of Georgia on its EU accession path.

Parliamentary elections in Georgia are scheduled for 26 October, a vote widely seen as being crucial for the country’s prospects of securing accession talks with the EU after being granted membership candidacy last year. 

On Tuesday, Kaladze also went on to draw comparisons between the EU and the Soviet Union, accusing the EU of being intolerant of ‘different’ countries and their traditions.

‘If we erase all of these [differences] and become all stamped in the same way, what’s the difference between the status of the Soviet Union or that of the European Union?’, he asked. 

Football diplomacy

Kaladze, who is a former football star and ex-AC Milan defender, later appeared to have been the target of criticism by German Ambassador Peter Fischer, who wrote on X that ‘someone scored an own goal today’.

Fischer’s remarks were likely a reference to two own goals scored by Kaladze in the 2009 World Cup qualifier match between Georgia and Italy.

Later on Tuesday, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze dismissed Borrell’s comparison of Georgia to Moldova as being ‘utterly insulting’. He also criticised the X post Fischer had apparently written about Kaladze.

‘I want to tell him that on 26 October, Kakha Kaladze, together with his entire team, will once again win the Champions League, and all those who support the collective United National Movement, whether Georgian or foreign, will be defeated’, said Kobakhidze, addressing Fischer.

Kaladze, who recently announced he had moved his money out of Europe to avoid potential Western sanctions against him, has grown increasingly aggressive in his rhetoric.

On 5 August, he criticised the EU Ambassador to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński, claiming the ambassador would have been ‘kicked out’ of any ‘developed country’ for ‘intervening’ in domestic politics, which Kaladze claimed Herczyński had done in Georgia. It came after Herczyński described Georgian Dream’s use of images of war-torn Ukraine in their election ads as ‘outrageous, shameful, and terrifying’. 

As Georgian Dream gears up for 26 October’s parliamentary elections in hopes of scoring a fourth consecutive victory, the ruling party has reiterated its commitment to bringing the country closer to the EU and NATO — while also adopting a ‘pragmatic policy’ towards Russia and China.

However, they have also announced plans to impeach Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili — their second attempt to impeach her since she assumed the position — for holding meetings with foreign leaders without the government’s approval.

Following her return to Georgia, Zourabichvili stated that she had received reassurances from EU leaders that Georgia’s accession talks would resume if Georgian Dream were ousted from power and a new government adopted pro-EU reforms.

On 15 October, Reuters reported that the EU leaders planned to reiterate at a 17–19 October summit in Brussels that Georgia’s government ‘is jeopardising the country’s path towards the EU’.