Georgia halts its EU accession bid
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze speaking with journalists after GD MPs gave the GD government a vote of confidence; Photo: Irakli Kobakhidze's official Facebook page.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that the Georgian Dream party has decided to suspend efforts to begin EU accession negotiations until 2028 and will also decline EU budget support, News.az reports citing foreign media.
Kobakhidze announced the decision following the party consultation at the special briefing on November 28. He took the official party line that while EU membership remained the priority for 2030, this would happen only in Georgia’s terms of maintaining “dignity.” This manipulated argumentation flips the logic of EU accession, where the EU Copenhagen Criteria for functioning democracy and free market, the common regulatory framework, and the EU Council dictate the accession conditions and the regulatory framework.Kobakhidze’s statement comes as the Georgian Dream claims victory in the October 26 elections despite concerns about vote-rigging. The opposition rejects the results and considers the parliament illegitimate, while the President’s appeal to the Constitutional Court remains, so far, unanswered. The European Parliament gave credence to these claims by adopting a resolution calling for sanctions against GD leaders and re-running the parliamentary elections.
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