EU Halts Georgia's Accession To The Bloc, Freezes Financial Aid Over Much-Criticised Law

Georgia's accession to the European Union has been halt𒅌ed, and some of the bloc's financial support to the South Caucasus country has been frozen after the Georgian authorities adopted a new law that critics feared would curb democratic freedoms, the EU Ambassador in Georgia said Tuesday.

According to Pawel Herczynski, EU leaders made the decision to halt the process d🗹uring the last summit of the European Council, and it came in the wake of the Georgian authorities adopting the law on “foreign influence” despite weeks of protests.

In addition, a total of 30 million euros (USD 32.5 million) in financial support, earmarked for Georgia's Defence Ministry in 2024, has been frozen, Herczynski saidᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ at a news conference.

“This is only the first step, there will be other steps. Our direct support to the government of Georgia will be limited, and we will seek to redirect supporꦰt from the government of Georgia to civil society and the media,” he said. “It is sad to see EU-Georgia relati🐻ons at such a low point, when they could have been at an all-time high.”

The law, which came into effect last month despite mass protests and a veto from the country's president, requires media, nongovernmental organisations and other nonprofit groups to r𝕴egister as “pursuing the interests o♋f a foreign power” if they receive more than 20 per cent of their funding from abroad.

The opposition has denounced the bill as “the Russian law” because Moscow uses similar legislation to stigmatize independent news media, organisations and individuals critical of the Kremlin, and called its passage a siꦏgn of neighbouring Russia's hold over Georgia.

EU off𓄧icials have repeatedly denounced the law as undemocratic and said i𓂃t would hinder Georgia's path to EU membership.

The bloc agreed to grant membership candidate status to Georgia in December on condition that it fight disinformation, in💝cluding against the EU, bring its foreign and security policies into line with the bloc's, and introduce new justice refo🅷rms, among other measures.

Membership talks did not get underway. To start talks with a candidate, the 27 E♈U nations and that country must agree on a negotiating mandate. EU experts must also conduct a screening procedure, to analyze how much work needs to be done to bring Georgia's laws and standards into line with those of the bloc.

Once those preconditions have been met, an intergovernmental conference would be called with Georgia to officially launch the start of talks. Each step requires unanimous agreement from the EU member nationsཧ and can be blocked at any point.

At a ꦺsummit on June꧅ 27, EU leaders warned Georgia that its path toward membership would be blocked unless the “foreign influence” law was repealed.

They called “on G꧋eorgia's authorities to clarify their intentions by reversing the current course of action which jeopa🍨rdizes Georgia's EU path, de facto leading to a halt of the accession process.”

In the days before the summit, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc wဣas considering “putting a hold to our financi😼al assistance to the government” in Tbilisi and downgrading political contacts. It was not clear how much money overall would be affected.

In a separate development, the United 🐟States earlier this month “indefinitely postponed” military drills in Georgia — a move the U.S. Department of Defense said came as part of a “comprehensive review” of the relations between Washington and Tbilisi.

Georgia's President Salome Zourabichvili, who has long been at odds with the country's government, on Tuesday called the moves by the EU and the U🍌.S. “very difficu💙lt messages from two of our closest friends" that “are worth listening to.”

"Although this is a response to the stupid and hostile policies of the ruling party towards them, at the same time it is a warning to society: our partners tell us that the choice is yo🌞urs' between Georgia w𝕴ith a secure European future and Georgia moving toward the Russian orbit,” Zourabichvili said.