Representatives from Hungary and Slovakia blocked proposed sanctions against Georgia’s ruling party, Georgian Dream (GD), following a discussion between EU foreign ministers on the ongoing political crisis in the Caucasus country on December 16. 

Tbilisi has seen over two weeks of continuous protests following an announcement by the country’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze that Georgia would be suspending its EU accession bid until 2028. Violent police crackdowns have been deployed against demonstrators, with over 500 arrests and brutal beatings of protesters, journalists and opposition members by law enforcers. 

Ahead of the December 16 session of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, Kaja Kallas, the new high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security, announced that discussions on sanctions on GD individuals would be one of three main topics on the agenda, along with Syria and Ukraine. 

“The developments we are seeing right now in Georgia are not going in the right direction towards where a candidate country should be. We are going to discuss the consequences for the Georgian government of their use of repression against the opposition. One question is, of course, sanctions, and the other side is limiting the visa-free regime,” stated Kallas.

Although the Council failed to reach the unanimity required to impose sanctions on GD officials, notably police chiefs, it did ask the European Commission to prepare an official document on suspending visa liberalisation for Georgians holding diplomatic passports, which requires only a qualified majority.

Rikard Jazwiak, RFE/RL’s Europe editor, wrote on X that the European Commission intends to propose the suspension for Georgian diplomats as early as next week, and that there is “already a qualified majority for this”.

Kobakhidze called the decision to impose visa restrictions on Georgian diplomatic passport holders an “extremely unfriendly, anti-Georgian step”. 

“We hope that, ultimately, the positions of specific politicians and bureaucrats in the European Union will change,” the PM said.

On December 15, the day before the Council met, representatives from all four of Georgia’s pro-Western opposition coalitions, which reject GD’s victory in the recent parliamentary elections as fraudulent and have refused their MP mandates, issued an appeal to Kallas and EU foreign ministers calling for urgent measures to denounce the disputed GD government and support the Georgian people in their fight for their country’s Euro-Atlantic integration. 

While they encourage sanctions on GD members, the Georgian opposition has warned against suspending the visa-free regime that Georgians enjoy when they travel to and within the EU, warning this this could negatively affect ordinary citizens, including those who actively support the country’s EU integration.

"The emphasis should be placed, first and foremost, on diplomatic and service passport visas and less on a general visa exemption,” an anonymous EU official stated on December 16 ahead of the Council session, as reported by Euronews.

The prospect of EU sanctions follow recent similar moves within the international community against the Georgian government. The US State Department on December 12 imposed visa restrictions on 20 senior GD officials “responsible for of involved in undermining democracy”. The EU could now follow suit. 

Meanwhile, protests in Georgia entered their 19th night on December 16, with demonstrators demanding the release of those arrested at the protests as well as a new round of parliamentary elections, citing widespread violations in the October 26 vote.

On December 14, an electoral council comprised of GD MPs and local governors voted in Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former footballer with no higher education, as the sixth Georgian president. Protesters view the single-candidate election as a sham, and declare the incumbent president, the pro-western Salome Zourabichvili, to be the country’s only remaining legitimate authority.

In a recent interview with the French news platform Paris Match, Zourabichvili stated that she expects clarity and lucidity from Europe, calling for “the non-recognition of these elections” and “the end of business as usual”. 

On December 15, Lithuania and Estonia expanded their separate lists of sanctioned GD officials to include Kobakhidze and Tbilisi mayor Kakha Kaladze, among other high-ranking politicians. The foreign ministers of the two Baltic States also called on other EU countries to take action over ongoing events in Georgia. 

In response, GD accused Lithuania and Estonia on December 16 of acting “not in the interests of their own people but under directives from a foreign administration”, but stated that it would maintain a unilateral partnership with both countries regardless.

“The Georgian authorities have the right and ability to respond to this anti-Georgian decision. However, out of respect for the Lithuanian and Estonian people, we do not consider it appropriate to take such a step,” the statement read.