EU to downgrade Georgia ties over ‘foreign agent’ law

5 months ago 10

The European Union will downgrade high-level contacts with Georgia and consider freezing financial aid to the Georgian Dream-led government after it pushed through a controversial “foreign agent” law earlier this month.

“We will downgrade our political contacts (…) and we will consider putting on hold financial assistance to the government,” the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell told reporters after a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

Instead, the EU would increase its support to civil society and independent media in the country and “adapt measures” as necessary, depending on Tbilisi’s actions.

“If the government [does] not change [its] course of action, Georgia will not progress on the European Union path,” Borrell added.

Speaking to reporters earlier in the morning, Borrell said Georgia’s door to membership could “close” should the Georgian Dream-led government in Tbilisi continue curtailing civil liberties.

“The door for Georgia to become a member of the European Union is open,” Borrell had said ahead of the talks.

“But if the government continues on the same track, continues doing what they are doing, this door will be closed, and the Georgian people will pay the consequences, will suffer,” he said.

“We stand with the Georgian people and their overwhelming choice in favour of democracy and Georgia’s future inside the European Union,” Borrell added.

The comments came after the EU’s diplomat service (EEAS) came up with an options paper it presented to the bloc’s member states on how to proceed should the situation in Georgia further deteriorate.

It included a range of measures, including sanctions on top government officials, cutting financial assistance and restricting visa-free travel, in response to the Georgian government’s controversial ‘foreign agents’ law, according to an internal document seen by Euractiv.

Twenty-six of the EU’s 27 member states shared the view that the government was moving Georgia away from the EU and that measures should be taken, Borrell said.

According to EU diplomats, Hungary did not agree with that position.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]