Europeans still find it hard to believe it. Just four months after granting Georgia the status of official candidate for the European Union (EU), they observe, dumbfounded, the return to Parliament of the controversial bill on “foreign influence” in this former Soviet republic of the South Caucasus.
The text, modeled on a 2012 Russian law aimed at silencing civil society and independent media, is deemed incompatible with democratic and European values. Its final adoption, expected by June, would jeopardize the rapprochement with the EU, enshrined in the Georgian Constitution and to which 80% of the population aspires.
In Tbilisi, thousands of people have been demonstrating every day for three weeks to demand its withdrawal, against a backdrop of growing repression. But, unlike in March 2023, when the bill was first tabled in Parliament before being abandoned under pressure, the government appears deaf to protests and international condemnation.
In Brussels, the situation is extremely worrying. After the repression in the streets of the Georgian capital, the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, broadcast on 1er May a statement condemning “violence in the streets of Tbilisi” and sharing his “concerns about foreign influence law”. An unusual intervention. “It’s not every day that the president speaks. This shows the state of concern within the Commission”we analyze from the side of the European executive.
Also read the editorial | Georgia at the heart of the Russia-EU confrontation
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The Twenty-Seven are all the more alarmed as the strong man of Georgia, the billionaire oligarch and founder of the ruling party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, gave a resolutely anti-Western speech on Monday April 29 in pure Kremlin style. In his vehement and conspiratorial diatribe, he equates Westerners, the opposition and Georgian civil society with enemies, accused of fomenting a revolution to overthrow the government and destabilize the country.
This discreet man, who obtained French nationality in 2010 and whom France rewarded with the Legion of Honor in 2021, also announces the repression of any opponent of the government after the legislative elections, scheduled for October. He concludes by assuring, against all evidence, that“in 2030, Georgia will join the EU”.
Credibility test for the Twenty-Seven
In addition to the European institutions, the Member States are also extremely concerned. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis assured on the social network “Heartbroken to hear Ivanishvili’s vision for Georgia’s future (…). We are shocked today to see Georgians being dragged into unfreedom by those who are themselves most afraid of freedom.”
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