The Georgian prime minister condemned what he called a ‘cascade of insults’ by EU politicians and declared that ‘the villains of our country have turned the European Parliament into a blunt weapon for blackmailing Georgia’.
ADVERTISEMENTDemonstrators gathered across Georgia for a third consecutive night of demonstrations against the government’s decision to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union.
More than 100 protesters were arrested on Friday evening in clashes between the crowd and the police, the country’s Ministry of the Interior announced.
That same night, police also used heavy force against members of the media and used water cannons to push back protesters along the capital’s central boulevard, Rustaveli Avenue.
Some media outlets reported seeing protesters being chased and beaten by police as protesters gathered outside the country’s parliament building.
The contested victory of the ruling Georgian Dream party in the country’s Oct. 26 parliamentary election, widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s aspirations to join the EU, sparked large demonstrations and led to an opposition boycott of parliament.
In an interview with Euronews, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said the scale of the protests was unprecedented as they had spread beyond the capital Tbilisi.
“Every day there are more and more people on the streets. And more importantly, real disagreement is growing in the country. In state institutions, where people are resigning, or protesting, or signing petitions, depending on which institution we are talking about,” she said.
She also criticized the current government, led by the populist Georgian Dream party, as “illegitimate”.
“Nobody recognizes them. First of all, they were not recognized by the Georgian population. They were not recognized by the political forces in the country, because no opposition party recognized them as having won these partially rigged elections and no one entered the parliament, therefore, it is one party , and an illegitimate parliament.
The opposition claims that the parliamentary elections were rigged with the help of Russia, in order to install a pro-Moscow party and keep Georgia within the Russian orbit.
European election observers said the October vote took place in a divisive atmosphere marked by cases of bribery, double voting and physical violence.
The government’s announcement that it was suspending EU accession negotiations came hours after the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning last month’s vote as neither free nor fair.
It said the election represented another manifestation of Georgia’s continuing democratic decline “for which the ruling Georgian Dream party is fully responsible.”
The EU granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 on the condition that it meets the bloc’s recommendations, but put its accession on hold and ended financial support earlier this year after the adoption of a controversial “foreign influence” law widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms.
The EU representatives called for a repeat of the parliamentary elections within a year under thorough international supervision and by an independent election administration.
ADVERTISEMENTThey also called on the EU to impose sanctions and limit formal contacts with the Georgian government.
Kobakhidze fights back
The Georgian prime minister hit back, condemning what he described as a “cascade of insults” by EU politicians and declaring that “the villains of our country have turned the European Parliament into a blunt weapon to blackmail Georgia, which is a great shame for the European Union.”
Irakli Kobakhidze also said that Georgia will refuse all EU budget grants until the end of 2028.
Critics have accused Georgian Dream of becoming increasingly authoritarian and leaning towards Moscow.
ADVERTISEMENTThe party recently pushed through laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to suppress free speech and LGBTQ+ rights.
