By Irakli Machaidze 

(Eurasianet) — As the dispute over Georgia’s parliamentary voting results plays out, an annual report issued by the European Commission is effectively writing off Tbilisi’s chances of joining the EU any time soon. The report states that the incumbent Georgian Dream’s policies run “counter to the values and principles” of the EU. 

EU officials and international observers have cited widespread irregularities connected with the October 26 parliamentary elections. Some in Brussels have called for a thorough investigation but have thus far refrained from saying the outcome was rigged. Official results show Georgian Dream winning 54 percent of the vote and gaining 89 of the 150 seats in the legislature. 

The EU Commission report on Georgia’s EU accession progress, issued October 30, was far less equivocal on Georgian Dream’s overall performance. The general message conveyed in the report is that Georgian Dream is taking the country in the wrong direction. 

“Due to the course of action taken by the Georgian government, EU leaders stopped Georgia’s accession process. It remains on hold as long as Georgia continues to move away from the EU,” the EU’s ambassador to Georgia, Pawel Herczynski, said at an October 30 news conference in Tbilisi to outline the report’s findings.

After granting Georgia EU candidacy status in 2023, Brusselsconditioned the opening of accession talks on the Georgian government’s implementation of reforms. Georgian Dream has made halting progress in several spheres, including aligning economic frameworks with EU standards. But the report notes “backsliding” in key areas, including the judiciary, fundamental rights and foreign policy. 

Georgian Dream’s adoption of the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence, more commonly known as the ‘foreign agents’ law, “impacts freedom of expression and the ability of the media to operate freely,” according to the report.

The commission also states that Tbilisi has made “no progress” over the past year in harmonizing its foreign, security and defense policy with Brussels, especially in the area of sanctions implementation against Russia, Belarus and Iran.

The report notes that Georgia is now experiencing “extreme polarization,” while blaming Georgian Dream for creating an “increasingly hostile environment” for those who question government policies.

Another area of particular concern outlined in the report was gender and minority rights. It stressed that the legal definition of rape in Georgia does not conform with EU standards. “Gaps in prevention and response to gender-based violence remain,” the report says. It also states members of Georgia’s LGBTQ community are living in a “hostile and stigmatizing atmosphere” that is a direct outcome of “legislative activities and the continued prevalence of homophobic hate speech.”

Regarding the just-concluded elections in Georgia, the Commission report echoes the preliminary findings of international election monitors, saying that a variety of factors, including recent amendments to the election code and the use of intimidation to influence voters, “negatively impacted public trust in the process.”

The commission’s negative assessment of Georgia is brought into sharper focus by its praise for Moldova’s and Ukraine’s progress towards accession. A statement on the adoption of the EU’s 2024 Enlargement Package notes accession talks with Moldova and Ukraine opened in June, signaling Brussels’ “important recognition” of both countries’ “determination to pursue reforms.” 

“This year, Georgia has gone backwards while other candidate countries have advanced,” said Herczynski, the EU envoy. “Georgia’s next government should reverse course, recommit to democratic principles and values if it wants to bring the country closer to the EU.”

• Irakli Machaidze is a Eurasianet editorial fellow in New York.