EU Enlargement Commissioner ‘does not rule out’ review of Georgia’s candidate status and free trade deal

EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos has said that she did not rule out a review of Georgia's EU candidate status and its free trade agreement with the bloc, while also not excluding the possibility of reestablishing dialogue with Tbilisi.

In an interview with RFE/RL published on Tuesday, Kos said that ‘there are many possibilities’ as to how the EU might respond to democratic backsliding in Georgia, but that the EU is ‘really careful what to do in this situation’.

RFE/RL journalist Rikard Jozwiak listed measures the EU has already taken — including a cut in high-level contact with the Georgian Dream government and cuts in financial assistance to Georgia — and asked what further steps the EU might consider.

‘We could take away […] visa liberalisation, but we would be harming the people the most. Then we have the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement [with Georgia] — we could take a look at that’, Kos responded, also referencing the candidate status Georgia was granted in 2023.

‘Then Georgia [still has] the candidate status. So we could freeze it, we could make a standstill like with Turkey. So, these are the possibilities’, she added.

Kos noted that she cannot accept ‘that we can lose Georgia, even if the government is adopting one law after another that is clearly against European values’.

On the topic of sanctions, Kos said ‘there was no possibility, because there was no unanimity among the member states’, in a likely reference to Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orbán maintains close ties with Georgian Dream. She noted that some EU countries have already imposed individual sanctions on Georgian authorities.

Jozwiak also asked Kos whether the EU would consider resuming dialogue with the government in Tbilisi. In response, Kos said that ‘the easiest way is not to speak. But to speak, you have to know what you have to offer and what the other side is willing to do’.

‘So now we are exploring how we will be able to do this dialogue in the sense that we could be able to bring Georgia back to the European way’, she said.

Kos once again referenced Turkey, which holds an EU candidate status, noting that the EU has been at a standstill with the Turkish authorities for several years now, with formal negotiations halted. However, she added that high-level meetings have recently resumed on specific issues, including migration and the economy.

When asked to clarify whether the EU is considering high-level dialogue with Georgia in the future, Kos said that talks would ‘perhaps’ not be on the highest level ‘in the beginning’.

‘Perhaps starting at the lower level but then to see how we could explore this’.

Georgia’s relations with the EU have sharply deteriorated following the ruling party’s adoption of several pieces of repressive legislation, as well as the widespread violations that were documented during the October 2024 parliamentary elections. Relations plummeted further still after the Georgian government announced it was freezing its EU membership bid, violently dispersing protesters against the decision.

Prior to the elections, the EU suspended over €120 million ($140 million) in aid to Georgia.

At the end of January, the EU also suspended its visa-free regime for Georgian diplomatic passport holders, while member states have imposed individual sanctions on a number of Georgian officials and halted several cooperation projects.

Mdinaradze calls EU visa-free travel ‘the last bullet in the blackmail arsenal’

This is the latest in a series of statements by Georgian Dream regarding visa-free travel with the EU.

OC MediaMikheil Gvadzabia