Georgia at risk of vassalization

TOut of shame, the Georgian Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, thanked on social networks, Tuesday December 17, “the five countries” of the European Union who had taken a position the day before, during a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Twenty-Seven, in favor of the government in Tbilisi, the target of a strong popular protest movement for three weeks. He also cited the five countries: “Hungary, Slovakia, Italy, Spain and Romania”.

In reality, only Hungary and Slovakia opposed sanctions against Georgia. One after the other, the Romanian, Italian and Spanish governments publicly denied the Georgian, revealing in the process a crude disinformation maneuver learned at a good school, that of Russia. These three governments have, on the contrary, condemned the violence with which the Georgian authorities repress the demonstrations; they also clarified that they supported the measures proposed by the High Representative of the European Union (EU) for foreign policy, Kaja Kallas, aimed at sanctioning those responsible for these repressions. These measures could not be taken at European level due to the veto of Hungary and Slovakia.

It is not enough, however, to reestablish the truth. Since October 26, the date of the elections marred by fraud which returned the Georgian Dream party to power, Europeans have been embarrassed by the Georgian case. Already very busy with Ukraine and Moldova, grappling with multiple political and economic difficulties in several of their countries – and not the least – the EU member states give the impression of simply hoping that the problem will end by disappearing. The problem: a population stubbornly attached to the European path, up against a party which has governed for twelve years through state capture and submits itself more and more openly to the designs of the Kremlin. When the Georgian Dream government decided, at the end of November, to abandon the process of Georgia’s accession to the EU, the population took to the streets. For three weeks, demonstrations have been daily, despite the brutality of the repression and more than 400 arrests.

Do not wait for unanimity in Brussels

But the problem won’t go away. The election, on December 14, of the ex-far-right, pro-Russian footballer, Mikheïl Kavelashvili, as new president of Georgia by a Parliament in which the opposition refuses to sit, showed the determination of those in power to maintain its line of rupture with Europe. The president elected in 2018, the pro-European and former French diplomat Salomé Zourabichvili, whose mandate ends on December 29, supports the popular protest movement and intends to remain in her post until a new Parliament is elected, without fraud.

European states must express their solidarity more firmly with the Georgian democratic opposition which is demanding new elections and sanction those responsible for the repression without waiting for unanimity in Brussels, as the Baltic states have done. The risk, otherwise, is to make Georgia suffer the same fate as Belarus, now vassalized by Russia, and to M^me Zourabichvili the same fate as Svetlana Tsikhanovskaïa, voice of the Belarusian opposition in exile. Letting Vladimir Putin get his hands on Georgia against the wishes of its population would send a message of renunciation that he would not fail to interpret in his favor for the rest of the Caucasus and for Ukraine.