EU summit to call on Georgia to change political course

BRUSSELS. Oct 15 (Interfax) - Georgia's European Union accession process has stalled, change is needed, the EU supports and is ready to help the Georgian people, a high-ranking EU official said.

Georgia's EU membership talks have reached deadlock,, and unless steps are taken to change the trend, the process will go into stagnation, the official, who is familiar with the agenda of the EU's October 17-18 summit, told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday on conditions of anonymity. That is the kind of message that would be sent to Georgian authorities, he said.

Another message is that the EU leaders, the European Council, EU institutions stand by the Georgian people and are providing it with their assistance, the official said when asked what Tbilisi should expect from the summit and what its message will be for the Georgian government.

Georgia features in the foreign policy section of the summit agenda.

On October 9, the European Parliament has passed a resolution saying that "democratic backsliding" in Georgia suspends its integration in the European Union and demanding that Europe's funding of Georgia be stopped.

Although Georgia was granted EU candidate status in December 2023 "the ruling Georgian Dream party has pushed an increasingly authoritarian agenda," a statement on the European Parliament's website said.

According to the resolution, new Georgian laws together with changes in the country's electoral laws and growing anti-European rhetoric "violate freedom of expression, censor media, impose restrictions on critical voices in civil society and the NGO sector or to discriminate against vulnerable people."

There can be no progress in EU-Georgia relations if such laws are not repealed, the resolution said.