The President of Georgia, Salomé Zourabichvili, will address MEPs in the Strasbourg Chamber on Wednesday 18 December.
In a debate on Tuesday 17 December, MEPs called for EU sanctions against leading Georgian figures following the crackdown on pro-EU demonstrators.
There have been massive demonstrations in Georgia following the government’s decision to suspend the country’s EU accession process after the disputed parliamentary elections in October (see EUROPE 13545/14).
Ms Zourabichvili, Georgia’s president since 2018, said the election, in which the ruling Georgian Dream party claimed victory, was fraudulent and stolen. On 28 November 2024, MEPs rejected the result of the parliamentary elections in Georgia and called for them to be re-run within a year (see EUROPE 13534/18).
Ms Zourabichvili’s presidential term is due to end on 29 December and the new Georgian parliament recently appointed her successor, the pro-Russian Mikhail Kavelashvili.
Sanctions. At Monday’s Foreign Affairs Council, “we agreed to end the visa-free regime for holders of diplomatic and service passports”, said Commissioner Dubravka Šuica (see EUROPE 13546/28). And she added: “We also discussed the possibility of imposing sanctions, under the European Union’s human rights sanctions regime, on Georgian officials responsible for, involved in or associated with serious human rights violations”.
Rasa Juknevičienė (EPP, Lithuanian) called on Member States to “implement sanctions against those responsible for rigged elections and violence against peaceful demonstrators”. She urged the Heads of State and Ministers of the Member States to travel rapidly to Tbilisi as part of a European mission to Georgia.
“Let’s impose real sanctions on those who repress their own people”, said Tobias Cremer (S&D, German). Raphaël Glucksmann (S&D, French) defended “targeted and effective sanctions against the Georgian leaders”.
Addressing Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative Małgorzata Gosiewska (ECR, Polish) was emphatic: “You said that the list of people subject to sanctions was ready, so take action!”
Nathalie Loiseau (Renew Europe, French) said: “What are we waiting for to sanction the handful of people who are behind the Georgian Dream, who want to put the country under their boot and that of Vladimir Putin?”
Thierry Mariani (PfE, French), on the other hand, felt that the EU was “encouraging a coup d’état that risks plunging the country into chaos”.
Taking the floor again at the end of the debate, the Commissioner felt that the Georgian people were demonstrating “their undeniable attachment” to democratic values and to the future of Europe. “The EU will not abandon it along the way”, concluded Dubravka Šuica. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)