Georgia’s government is in favor of joining the EU and now wants to enforce a law on “foreign agents”. This confirms opponents’ accusation that it is undemocratic and pro-Russian. But what is driving the government?
It was a historic victory: with a 4-2 win against Greece last week, Georgia secured its ticket to the European Football Championship in Germany. It will be the South Caucasus republic’s first participation in a European football championship. There was great cheering in the stadium in Tbilisi and throughout the country – at least when it comes to football, Georgia can feel like an integral part of Europe. This also works at the Eurovision Song Contest and film festivals.
On the political level, however, Georgia is drifting further and further away. While Georgia was once at the forefront of the EU’s eastern neighbors in the rapprochement process, it has now been overtaken by Ukraine and Moldova: the EU opened accession negotiations with both states in 2023. Georgia, on the other hand, only received status as a candidate country and receives repeated reminders to fulfill the conditions set. The ruling party “Georgian Dream” conveys a contradictory picture. She names EU membership as a goal. But she keeps making politics against it.
“Agents of Foreign Influence”
For example, this is the second time she has announced a law requiring organizations to declare if they receive funding from abroad. A year ago she withdrew the law on “foreign agents” after massive protests. The demonstrators criticized it as undemocratic, citing a similar law in Russia.
Now the ruling party wants to bring it back to parliament. Only the term “agent of foreign influence” should be changed to “organization that represents the interests of a foreign power”. The law will also affect independent election observer organizations in Georgia, which the government accuses of trying to foment a “revolution” by allegedly providing false information about the results of the 2020 parliamentary election.
The ruling party’s announcement immediately spread across social media – six months before the parliamentary elections, new protests are to be expected because concerns about election manipulation are increasing and ultimately also because the law further worsens Georgia’s chances of taking the next step towards EU accession .
Another example is policy towards Russia. For a long time, the ruling party held back from making clear statements about Russia’s war against Ukraine, even though Russian troops control two breakaway regions of Georgia. It also did not join the sanctions against Russia that European states have imposed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
Everything to maintain power
This repeatedly brings the government into being accused of being pro-Russian. Giorgi Gacharia gives an explanation for the contradictory actions in an interview tagesschau.de. He was prime minister until 2021 and previously interior minister in the “Georgian Dream” government: the ruling party is not pro-Russian, according to Gacharia. “She’s not even pro-Georgian. She only stands for herself and does everything she can to stay in power.”
The aim of EU membership can be explained by the fact that for years a clear majority of the population has been in favor of joining, as well as NATO membership. However, the governing party only wants to meet the demands for reforms associated with EU integration to the extent that these do not endanger its retention of power.
This is shown by changes to the electoral law that the “Georgian Dream” has already brought through parliament. These allow the ruling party to fill the crucial positions of the Central Election Commission, which in turn oversees the voting results.
Profiteers in Georgia?
The ruling party rejects criticism from the EU of such decisions as “unfair” and as allegedly intentional “disadvantaging the Georgian people”. In addition, politicians such as Prime Minister Iraqi Kobakhidze claim that “serious forces” want to open a “second front” against Russia and drag Georgia into the war.
With this accusation, Kobachidze also raised questions about whether Georgia is a transit country for circumventing the sanctions against Russia. Experts point to a significant increase in exports to Georgia. A year ago, the country also resumed direct flights with Russia. One of the beneficiaries is the Georgian airline “Georgian Airways”, which now offers transit flights to popular European holiday destinations.
There are also indications that individual actors are getting involved with Russia. In September 2023, the US government imposed sanctions on a Georgian former prosecutor general because he was said to have cooperated with the Russian domestic intelligence service FSB with the aim of influencing the mood in Georgia. Local media describe him as a confidante of the honorary chairman of the ruling party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, which he rejects.
The extremely wealthy businessman Ivanishvili founded the “Georgian Dream” in 2011 in order to oust then President Mikhail Saakashvili from power with his “United National Movement” party. Ivanishvili made his fortune in Russia. His opponents consider him to be loyal to Putin.
Corruptibility as Security risk
Gacharia does not follow this argument. Rather, he believes the government is corruptible and obsessed with power, which makes it a significant security risk for Georgia. Because with this party it would be easy for Russia to influence the parliamentary elections in the fall. Russia would also have no problem if Georgia were an EU member – then they would still have a willing country within the EU, said Gacharia.
He resigned as Prime Minister in 2021 – in a dispute with his party colleagues over how to deal with a high-ranking opposition politician. The liberal opposition, in turn, still blames him for ordering a police operation in 2019 that led to the violent dispersal of a demonstration. Now he wants to run in the parliamentary elections with his own party “For Georgia” and believes he has a good chance: he and his colleagues have government experience. However, they do not belong to the government party or to the largest opposition party, the United National Movement.
The conflict between these two parties has dominated politics in recent years – without fundamentally improving people’s lives. However, all other parties perform significantly worse in surveys. It is questionable whether they will clear the five percent threshold for entry into parliament.
Due to a lack of prospects, hundreds of thousands have already looked for a living elsewhere in recent years. Georgia is one of the countries in Germany with the most asylum seekers despite a negligibly low recognition rate. Entrepreneurs are now complaining about a labor shortage, especially in the tourism sector, which has experienced a boom in recent years thanks to European visitors.