German FM calls on EU to formally suspend Georgian accession
The German Foreign Ministry today published a statement by Minister Annalena Baerbock, in which she calls on the EU to ‘discuss a formal suspension of Georgia’s accession process due to the increasingly authoritarian policies of Georgian Dream’.
Baerbock said that the EU candidate status granted to Georgia in December 2023 was tied to ‘clear promises of reforms’.
‘But instead of progress, we are seeing alarming setbacks: elections that are being sharply criticised by international observers, disproportionate violence against demonstrators, the [foreign agent law], or the restriction of LGBTQI rights’, she said.
‘Georgian Dream is thus squandering the historic opportunity that the European Union is offering the country.’
Baerbock praised the protest movement against the government’s decision to halt EU integration, saying that the majority of Georgians ‘have Europe in their hearts, and the pro-European protests are their voice’.
‘Grandmothers who endure the freezing cold and are not intimidated by the security forces’ batons. Completely soaked young people who confront water cannons with nothing but European flags. Opposition leaders who are brutally beaten and taken away. For weeks, tens of thousands of Georgians have been demonstrating courageously for a European future for their country in the smallest villages and the largest cities.’
She concluded her statement saying that the ball was in Georgian Dream’s court, and that it is now ‘up to them to do everything they can to end the deep political crisis, regain trust, and offer the people of Georgia a real perspective for a return to the EU accession path, but above all for a good future for all Georgians’.
