BRUSSELS — On Wednesday, Georgia’s outgoing president made a heartfelt request to the European Union, urging them to pressure her country’s pro-Russian government into organizing new elections amid a police crackdown on peaceful protests by the opposition.
The streets have been filled with tens of thousands of demonstrators in recent weeks after the ruling Georgian Dream party announced it would halt negotiations for joining the EU, a bloc of 27 nations. Police have markedly escalated their use of force and intimidation tactics to disperse these protests.
President Salome Zourabichvili addressed EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France, where she emphasized the need for Europe to exert its influence. “If Europe cannot exert leverage on a country of 3.7 million, how can it expect to compete with the giants of the 21st century?” she declared, receiving warm applause from her audience.
In December 2023, the EU had granted Georgia candidate status for membership but subsequently suspended the accession process and reduced financial support in response to a controversial “foreign influence” law viewed as detrimental to democratic freedoms.
Recently, EU foreign ministers have agreed to impose visa restrictions on Georgian diplomats and government officials. They are also considering a list of Georgian representatives for potential sanctions, although no consensus has yet been reached. Zourabichvili criticized these measures as insufficient and called on the EU, as Georgia’s largest donor and economic partner, to leverage its influence more effectively.
“If we are honest, Europe so far has not fully lived up to the moment. Europe has met the challenge halfway,” she asserted. “While Georgians have been fighting day and night, Europeans have been slow to wake up and slow to react.”
Former soccer star Mikheil Kavelashvili was sworn in as Georgia’s new president on Saturday, following an election in October that the opposition contends was manipulated with Russian assistance. During her address, Zourabichvili noted that European flags are being prohibited in Tbilisi while Georgians continue to await decisive measures from Brussels and Washington. She vowed that the protests would persist until the nation secures free and fair elections. Some EU lawmakers even held up Georgian flags in solidarity.
“We either go to elections, or we face an unknown crisis, one that you will surely have to address under much worse conditions,” she cautioned.
Zourabichvili’s urgent appeal came right before a summit of EU leaders in Brussels. A draft statement from the summit, which has been reviewed, indicates that no new actions are anticipated, although revisions could occur before its official release on Thursday.
The draft expresses disappointment at the Georgian government’s decision to suspend the EU accession process until 2028. The leaders are expected to condemn the police’s violent crackdown, affirming that “the Georgian authorities must respect the right to freedom of assembly and expression, and refrain from using force. All acts of violence must be investigated, and those responsible must be held accountable.”
Zourabichvili concluded her address by highlighting that new and oppressive laws are being rapidly passed while citizens actively protest, creating a situation where little attention is being paid to legislative actions in Parliament. “Everything in Georgia is now under the control of a single party or one-man rule. It’s challenging to discern what remains outside that grip,” she stated.