EU Ambassador to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński, reaffirmed the European Union’s support for Georgia’s sovereignty while urging the government to reconsider recent legislative actions that have strained relations with Brussels.

“It was the Georgian authorities who decided to apply for EU membership in March 2022. It was the European Union that granted Georgia the status of a candidate country in December 2023, and it is for Georgia to decide on its laws. Georgia is an independent country; it can have any laws that it wants. But it is my role, it is our role as the European Union, to tell Georgians which laws are not compatible with the EU acquis,” Herczyński stated.

The Ambassador recalled that the European Council’s June 2024 conclusions served as a “first wake-up call” for Georgia, following the adoption of the controversial “Law on Transparency,” often referred to as the foreign agents law.

“In spring 2024, we said loud and clear: please do not adopt the foreign agents legislation, because this will have consequences. And indeed, in June 2024, as a result of its adoption, the European Council decided to effectively pause Georgia’s EU accession process, asking the authorities to reverse course,” Herczyński explained.

He described the European Commission’s most recent enlargement report as “probably the final wake-up call,” warning that Georgia’s EU aspirations have suffered severe setbacks.

“I sincerely hope that it will take less than 18 months for Georgian parliamentarians to learn and take action. If Georgia and its authorities are serious about ever joining the European Union, they urgently need to reverse the course and return to the EU integration track,” the Ambassador concluded.