Thousands of protesters took to the streets surrounding Georgia's Parliament to express their opposition to the ruling party's decision to suspend EU accession negotiations until 2028.
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Protesters clashed with police in the capital Tbilisi overnight from Thursday to Friday, after the government suspended negotiations on Georgia's candidacy for membership in the European Union for four years.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, of the Georgian Dream party, announced the decision at a press conference, saying that the long-awaited European Union application would not be on the agenda before the end of 2028.
The announcement came hours after the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning the October 26 elections, citing major irregularities that led to the elections “neither free nor fair”.
Brussels believes that the ruling party in Georgia is entirely responsible for the continued degradation of democratic functions in the country. Irregularities include “documented cases of voter intimidation, vote manipulation, interference with election observers and the media, and manipulation of electronic voting machines.”
The European Parliament has called for elections to be held again under international supervision within a year and for sanctions to be imposed on top Georgian officials, including the prime minister.
Kobakhidze insisted that Georgia is a European country and“it is our responsibility to make Georgia a full member of the European family”, more than “Relations between Georgia and the EU are bilateral and can only be bilateral.”
He went on to state: “We are a proud and self-respecting nation, with a long history. Therefore, it is categorically unacceptable for us to consider integration into the European Union as a favor that the European Union should grant us” .
The Prime Minister also said the government would refuse any funding from Brussels. The EU previously announced that it was withdrawing all budgetary support for Georgia due to the so-called law “on foreign agents” and other decisions made by the ruling Georgian Dream party, which were considered undemocratic.
The opposition refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the new parliament and boycotts its work. Kobakhidze will therefore remain Prime Minister. The Georgian parliament approved its new cabinet, but opposition seats remain vacant.
The parliament backed an independent international investigation into allegations of electoral manipulation in Georgia, urging the EU, its member states and the international community not to recognize them.
Kobakhidze insisted that Georgia's EU candidacy was simply on pause, not abandoned. In his speech, he pledged to continue implementing the necessary reforms over the next four years, stating that by 2028 the country will be better prepared than all other candidate countries to reopen trade negotiations. accession, and will become a full Member State in 2030.
Tbilisi officially applied to join the EU in March 2022, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It was granted EU candidate status in December the following year, much to the joy of many Georgians who celebrated the event in the streets of the capital. Protesters say they will continue to protest the government's decision until their demands are met.
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