MEPs visit Georgia and march with pro-EU protesters

A delegation from the European Parliament has visited Georgia and marched with pro-EU protesters with demonstrations against the government’s decision to suspend accession talks now in a second week.

The six MEPs also met with Georgia’s pro-Western president Salome Zourabichvili, as well as representatives of the opposition, civil society groups and the media.

The six members of the delegation were Rasa Juknevičienė from Lithuania and Michał Szczerba from Poland, both members of the European People’s Party.

Nathalie Loiseau and Bernard Guetta from France, of the Renew Europe group.

Germany’s Tobias Kremer of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats and Reinier van Lanschot from the Netherlands, who is a member of the Greens/European Free Alliance.

Police have reportedly resorted to more heavy handed tactics in a bid to clamp down on the unrest with more than 400 protesters, including opposition leaders and activists, detained and more than 100 people treated for injuries.

More than 50 journalists have also been injured in the nightly protests.

The ruling Georgian Dream retained control of parliament in the disputed 26 October election, a vote widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s EU aspirations.

The opposition have accused the governing party of rigging the vote with the help neighbouring Russia to keep what they call the ‘Moscow-friendly’ Georgian Dream in power.

A shift in emphasis

But the protests against the election took on a new dimension and spread beyond the capital Tbilisi after the Georgian Dream’s decision on 28 November to put EU accession talks on hold until at least 2028.

That decision was in response to a European Parliament resolution that criticised the elections as neither free nor fair.

It said the election represented another manifestation of Georgia’s continued democratic backsliding “for which the ruling Georgian Dream party is fully responsible.”

International observers say they saw instances of violence, bribery and double voting at the polls, prompting some EU lawmakers to demand a re-run.

The EU granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 on condition that it meet the bloc’s recommendations, but Brussels put that process on hold earlier this year after the passage of a controversial ‘foreign influence’ law, which was widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms.

Critics have also accused Georgian Dream of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow. The party recently pushed through laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights.