Georgia’s prime minister denounced what he called a ‘cascade of insults’ from EU politicians and declared that ‘the ill-wishers of our country have turned the European Parliament into a blunt weapon of blackmail against Georgia.’
Protesters have gathered across Georgia for a third consecutive night of demonstrations against the government’s decision to suspend negotiations to join the European Union.
More than 100 demonstrators were arrested as crowds clashed with police Friday night, the country’s Interior Ministry said.
On the same night, police also used heavy force against members of the media and deployed water cannons to push protesters back along the capital’s central boulevard, Rustaveli Avenue.
Some media outlets reported seeing protesters being chased and beaten by police as demonstrators rallied in front of the country’s parliament building.
The ruling Georgian Dream party’s disputed victory in the country’s 26 October parliamentary elections, which was widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s aspirations to join the EU, has sparked major demonstrations and led to an opposition boycott of the parliament.
In an interview with Euronews, Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili said the scale of the protests was unprecedented because they have spread beyond the capital, Tbilisi.
“Every day there are more people on the streets. And more importantly, there is real dissent growing in the country. In the state institutions, where people are resigning, or protesting, or signing petitions, depending on which institution we are talking about,” she said.
She also slammed the current government, headed by the populist Georgian Dream party, as “illegitimate”.
“They are not recognised by anyone. They have not been recognised by the Georgian population, in the first place. They have not been recognised by the political forces in the country, because no opposition party has recognised them as winning these partly rigged elections and nobody has entered the Parliament. So it’s one party, and an illegitimate Parliament.”
The opposition claims the parliamentary vote was rigged with the help of Russia, in order to install a Moscow-friendly party and keep Georgia within Russia’s orbit.
European election observers said October’s vote took place in a divisive atmosphere marked by instances of bribery, double voting and physical violence.
The government’s announcement that it was suspending negotiations to join the EU came hours after the European Parliament adopted a resolution that condemned last month’s vote as neither free nor fair.
It said the election represented another manifestation of Georgia’s continued democratic backsliding “for which the ruling Georgian Dream party is fully responsible.”
The EU granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 on condition that it meet the bloc’s recommendations, but put its accession on hold and cut financial support earlier this year after the passage of a controversial ‘foreign influence’ law widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms.
EU lawmakers urged a rerun of the parliamentary vote within a year under thorough international supervision and by an independent election administration.
They also called on the EU to impose sanctions and limit formal contacts with the Georgian government.
Kobakhidze fires back
The Georgian prime minister fired back, denouncing what he described as a “cascade of insults” from the EU politicians and declaring that “the ill-wishers of our country have turned the European Parliament into a blunt weapon of blackmail against Georgia, which is a great disgrace for the European Union.”
Irakli Kobakhidze also said Georgia would reject any budgetary grants from the EU until the end of 2028.
Critics have accused Georgian Dream of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow.
The party recently pushed through laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights.
