“We are ready. We are open. We have decided to let Georgia as one of us, but for this, we need to see commitment. We need to see dedication. We need to see serious reforms on the part of the Georgian authorities. Unfortunately, this is not the case,” said Pawel Herczynski, EU Ambassador to Georgia.

According to the Ambassador, the EU is based on values and principles, democracy, the rule of law, and human rights.

“As a European Union, we are based on values and principles, democracy, the rule of law, and human rights. As the European Union, we are also open to other countries to join. This is, of course, on a voluntary basis.

Georgia is one of the countries that formally applied to join the European Union, and it was the same government, the government of Georgian Dream, that in 2022, has applied to join the European Union. I was sent here as a representative of the European Union to help this process, and to make sure that Georgia joins the European Union as quickly as possible, but by applying, the authorities have committed to transforming Georgia in order to be one of us. They have committed to obey, to respect the same principles, democracy, the rule of law, and human rights. And what we have been witnessing is that since Georgia received a candidate status over a year and a half ago, the actions, the decisions, the legislation that has been introduced in Georgia, is against those principles, and this has been stated again and again by the European Council, by all our leaders.

We have asked Georgia, please don’t do it. Please get closer to us and don’t go further away from us. Unfortunately, our calls have been completely ignored. Even worse, what we have seen in Georgia over several months is intimidation, violence, brutality, and complete impunity for those who have beaten people on the streets.

This is why as the European Union, we are trying to introduce sanctions against those responsible for violence, but as I have explained to you many times, in order for us to introduce sanctions at the European Union level, we need all 27 member states to agree. We need unanimity, and for the moment, unfortunately, we do not have unanimity. There are member states that are opposed to this. This is why many of our member states have decided to introduce bilateral sanctions, and you have more and more countries that are targeting individuals, officials responsible for violence on the streets of Tbilisi and other cities of Georgia. At the same time, at the EU level, we are still trying to introduce sanctions, and, hopefully, we will reach a moment in which there will be unanimity among the 27 member states,” he said.