Georgian Dream joins Council of Europe’s Congress group linked to right-wing Patriots for Europe
Representatives of Georgia’s ruling party Georgian Dream have joined a newly formed political group within the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, which has presented itself as a ‘little brother’ to a nationalist Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament.
The creation of the political group Patriots for Europe in Congress was announced on Tuesday, with an official press release describing its establishment as a step ‘further strengthening the cooperation of sovereigntist, patriotic European politicians’.
According to the press release, the group will be represented in the Congress by 29 delegates from six countries, including:
- Seven members from Fidesz–KDNP, Hungary’s ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén
- Five members from Italy’s Lega party, led by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini
- Six members from the Czech party ANO 2011, led by current Prime Minister Andrej Babiš
- Eight members from Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party, led by the party’s billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili
- Two members from the Freedom Party of Austria
- One member from Spain’s Vox party
The group is chaired by Anna Magyar, a representative of Orbán’s Fidesz, with ANO 2011’s Richard Veres and Georgian Dream’s Nino Vardosanidze being its vice-chairs.
Vardosanidze is the chair of the Tbilisi City Council’s Legal Affairs and Human Rights Protection Commission. According to the City Council’s press service, she stressed that the creation of the group was ‘timely and necessary’. She was also joined in the group by Zurab Abashidze, Chair of the Tbilisi Municipal Assembly, and Beka Vacharadze, Mayor of the western Georgian city of Poti, alongside others.
All the parties that have joined the Patriots for Europe in Congress alongside Georgian Dream are widely described as ranging from right-wing populist to far-right, with some of them having been repeatedly criticised for pursuing policies seen as sympathetic toward Russia.
Yousef Bardouka
‘The new Patriotic political group is actually the little brother of the Patriots of Europe at the European Parliament, following the same path when it comes to representing stable values in the current turbulent, uncertain, and dangerous world’, the official press release read.
Patriots for Europe congratulated the newly formed group on X (formerly Twitter), noting that their faction is ‘growing stronger in every institution — from Strasbourg to Brussels’.
Patriots for Europe was founded in 2024 and currently has more than 80 members in the 720-seat European Parliament. Its formation was announced at a joint press conference by Orbán, Babiš, Austria’s former Interior Minister Herbert Kickl from the Freedom Party, and his party colleague, MEP Harald Vilimsky.
‘We, the patriotic forces of Europe, pledge to return the future of our continent to the European people by retaking our institutions and reorienting European policy to serve our Nations and our people’, its manifesto read.
At the time of the group’s founding, Orbán’s Fidesz no longer had a political family in the European Parliament. Its membership in the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) had been suspended in 2019, and it formally left in 2021. Similarly, ANO 2011 left the liberal Renew Europe group in 2024.
As for Georgian Dream, it had been a member of the Party of European Socialists (PES) for several years, but left in May 2023 amid a backdrop of democratic backsliding in the country.
Explaining its decision, the ruling party cited ideological differences and the support by some MEPs within PES for resolutions critical of the Georgian government. This occurred just as PES was planning to review Georgian Dream’s membership the following month.
Shota Kincha
Currently, Georgian Dream is not a member of any political bloc in the European Parliament; however, members of the ruling party and its affiliates have expressed sympathies toward nationalist and Eurosceptic groups around the continent.
In response to the ruling party’s entry into Patriots for Europe in Congress, the European Democratic Party (EDP) in the European Parliament hinted at the Georgian Dream government’s targeting of its critics.
‘Over the past year, Georgian Dream has targeted NGOs and independent media, cracked down on pro-European protests, and taken steps to marginalise the opposition’, the party said, adding:
‘So this is not just another political initiative. It is a choice about who to stand with. You cannot claim to defend freedom while collaborating with those who restrict it’.
Georgia’s relations with its traditional Western partners deteriorated particularly following the disputed 2024 parliamentary elections, the adoption of restrictive laws, the government’s suspension of its EU membership bid, and police violence against ensuing demonstrations. The US and several European countries imposed personal sanctions on Georgian officials.
Against this backdrop, critics often accuse the Georgian authorities of drifting the country away from Euro-Atlantic space while simultaneously pulling it into Russia’s orbit. The ruling party, for its part, rejects the characterisation, stating it is pursuing a ‘sovereign’ policy.
