Brussels – Four days after receiving the green light from the EU’s 27 Foreign Ministers, the European Commission has proposed suspending the visa-free regime for Georgian officials. This measure primarily targets members of the ruling Georgian Dream party, who are seen as responsible for the ongoing political and social crisis in Georgia. While this marks the first concrete action from EU institutions, it remains largely symbolic.
Following the assessment of the political situation in Georgia by the European Council, the Commission proposed on 20 December to suspend part of the EU-Georgia Agreement on the facilitation of visa issuance, which entered into force on 1 March 2011. Under the proposal, Georgian diplomats, officials, and their families holding diplomatic and official passports would require a visa to travel to the EU for short stays of up to 90 days within any 180-day period. However, this decision will not negatively affect Georgian citizens, as holders of ordinary passports ‘will continue to benefit from the visa exemption’ when travelling to the EU for short stays. It should be noted that Georgian officials can continue travelling using ordinary passports.
It is now up to the Council to adopt the Commission’s proposal through a qualified majority vote—at least 15 out of 27 Member States, representing more than 65% of the EU’s population. Only Hungary and Slovakia are opposed to restrictive measures against officials from the Georgian Dream party. As EU officials told The New Union Post, the EU Council’s decision is expected in “early January.” Once the decision enters into force, Member States will have to apply the visa requirement for holders of diplomatic, service/official passports and special passports issued by Georgia “in accordance with the principle of sincere cooperation.”
Georgia’s “serious democratic backsliding” forced the European Council to note the “de facto halt of the accession process” already in June 2024. As the situation continued to worsen after the 26 October parliamentary elections, the EU institutions decided to respond to the violent repression against peaceful protesters, politicians and independent media, which started after Georgian Dream’s government announced on 28 November to no longer pursue the opening of negotiations with the EU “until the end of 2028.”
The Georgian people have been protesting against the government’s choice to halt the EU path. Peaceful protests, met with police violence,” stated President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. “Our message to the leadership is clear: Stop harming your own people,” she added. Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos highlighted that “funding from the authorities to civil society and independent media” has already been redirected, and “the Commission will look into further strengthening our support for civil society.”
“We are also discussing additional measures,” EU High Representative Kaja Kallas anticipated, referring to potential EU sanctions. However, this path is complicated by the need for unanimity within the Council: Hungary, a close ally of Georgian Dream, holds veto power and has made it clear that it will block any sanctions targeting ruling party’s officials.
What is happening in Georgia
One month after the controversial elections on 26 October—marred by electoral fraud, as denounced by President Salomé Zourabichvili, opposition parties, and civil society—Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that his government will not put “the opening of accession negotiations with the EU on the agenda before the end of 2028.” During this period, the government also plans to “reject any EU budget support grants.”
The decision has sparked a wave of strong protests from the citizens, who are overwhelmingly pro-EU and consider the departure from the European family as a theft of their future. Since 28 October, protests have been taking place every night not only in Tbilisi but almost in all cities in Georgia against the “illegitimate government.”
Peaceful protesters have been facing increasing violence from the special police forces, who also used water cannons mixed with pepper spray to disperse the crowd, while protesters organised themselves to resist through barricades and fireworks. On December 4, a wave of unprecedented and violent arrests took place in private homes and offices of opposition politicians and protest leaders. Nika Gvaramia, a leader of Coalition 4 Change, was physically assaulted by masked men while demanding the formal explanations for the police raid on the offices of the main opposition coalition.
Meanwhile, the institutional crisis is deepening. Under the 2017 constitutional reform, the President of the Republic is selected by an electoral college of 300 members (150 MPs and 150 representatives of regional and local administrations). Georgian Dream has nominated Mikheil Kavelashvili—former footballer and leader of the far-right party People’s Power—who was elected as the new de facto president on 14 December. With her term set to end on 29 December, President Zourabichvili has vowed to stay in office until new elections are held and a “legitimate successor” is appointed.
