December 17, 2025 - The South Caucasus News - SouthCaucasusNews.com

Georgia’s EU accession process had “effectively come to a standstill,” according to a document issued by the EU Council presidency and backed by 26 member states, which also called on Tbilisi to free “all arbitrarily detained politicians, journalists and activists” and meet visa-free travel benchmarks “without delay.”

The document, which follows the EU Council Meeting on December 16 under Danish presidency, notes that it was issued as “Presidency conclusions” after “one delegation did not support” the text of the draft Council conclusions during deliberations. According to media reports, it was Hungary’s delegation that vetoed the adoption of the conclusions.

“The Council notes with regret Georgia’s backsliding across the nine steps on which the candidate status was granted,” the conclusions read. “Therefore, Georgia’s EU accession process has effectively come to a standstill until the authorities demonstrate resolute commitment to reverse course and return to the EU accession path.”

The document reaffirms the EU’s support for the European aspirations of the “vast majority of the Georgian people,” while stressing that the government’s actions “fall short of the EU’s expectations of a candidate country.”

It cited “serious general” backsliding in democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, including “the adoption of repressive legislation undermining fundamental rights and freedoms, the political instrumentalization of the judiciary, the persecution of opposition leaders, arbitrary arrests of protesters and journalists and a shrinking civic space.”

“The Council condemns and calls for an end to disinformation and anti-EU narratives spread by the Georgian authorities,” the document said, calling on Tbilisi “to free all arbitrarily detained politicians, journalists and activists, to repeal repressive legislation, adopt democratic, comprehensive and sustainable reforms, in line with the core principles of European integration, and cease its aggressive narrative against the EU, the EU Ambassadors and Head of Delegation as first steps towards re-engagement on the EU path.”

On visa liberalisation, the Council expressed regret over “Georgia’s continued non-compliance with the recommendations of the seventh visa suspension mechanism report,” calling on the authorities to fulfil the report’s recommendations and meet visa-free travel benchmarks “without delay.”

The Council also reiterated its expectation that Georgia align more closely with the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy.

“The Council expresses its strong expectation that Georgia will step up its efforts towards full CFSP alignment,” it said, urging alignment with EU restrictive measures against Russia and Belarus imposed in response to Moscow’s war against Ukraine “as a matter of the utmost priority.” The document also called on the Georgian authorities to “refrain from actions and statements that run counter to EU positions on foreign policy,” and encouraged Tbilisi to “continue its cooperation on preventing the circumvention of EU restrictive measures.”

The conclusions further reaffirmed EU support for Georgia’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence, underscoring that the bloc “remains firmly committed to peaceful conflict resolution and its policy of non-recognition and engagement,” including through the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia.

The document comes amid a busy week in Brussels and Strasbourg, including an EU Council meeting on December 16, a Georgia-related debate in the European Parliament on December 17, the scheduled EU summit on December 18–19, and the eighth visa suspension report expected later in the week.

Brussels has intensified its criticism amid Tbilisi’s anti-democratic and anti-Western moves, with the European Commission noting in its November report that Georgia was “a candidate country in name only.”

There have been repeated warnings that Georgia could lose its visa-free travel with the bloc as a result, a benefit Georgians have enjoyed since 2017. More recently, however, EU officials have pointed to targeting specific groups of officials, rather than the entire population, with restrictive measures.

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