EBN- Germany has proposed talks on a formal suspension of Georgia’s EU membership over the bloc’s accusations that the Tbilisi government has been acting in an anti-European manner and has used violence against pro-European protesters.
The Georgian Dream party deliberately suspended the accession process with its anti-European turn, effectively freezing it,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was quoted as saying in a statement by the German Foreign Ministry.
In the EU we should now discuss a formal suspension of Georgia’s accession process due to the increasingly authoritarian policies of the Georgian Dream party,” the Green Party politician added.
Baerbock stressed that granting Georgia candidate status to join the European Union in December 2023 was “coupled with clear promises of reform.”
“But instead of making progress, we are witnessing worrying setbacks,” the German minister said.
Baerbock explained that the Georgian Dream party’s distancing from the European Union seriously endangers Georgia’s long-standing partnership with Germany, noting that her ministry has as a result reduced the level of cooperation with the Georgian authorities and suspended support projects worth more than 200 million euros.
At the same time, Germany is consulting with its EU partners on further measures that, according to Baerbock, range “from the abolition of visa exemptions for Georgian officials to the imposition of targeted sanctions.
