Parliament Committee Chair hopes EU member states will “correctly evaluate” developments in Georgia

Maka Botchorishvili, the Chair of the European Integration Committee of the Georgian Parliament on Monday said she hoped “events developing in Georgia” would be “correctly evaluated” at a European Union ministerial meeting in Luxembourg and that EU member states would “not repeat the mistake” of the bloc denying its membership candidate status to the country in 2022.

Botchorishvili’s comment came as the European Union Foreign Affairs Council saw EU high representatives discuss the bloc’s possible measures following the adoption of a controversial domestic law on transparency of foreign influence by the Georgian Parliament in May.

We are closely following the debates in Luxembourg and hope EU member states will correctly evaluate developments in Georgia and will not repeat the same mistake which happened in June 2022“, she said.

The Committee Chair also said making preliminary assessments about the ministerial would be “difficult” but added she expected issues regarding Georgia to be discussed “more clearly than before” and claimed the domestic public had “only heard political statements with different interpretations”.

Botchorishvili also said “putting question marks where there was no basis [for them] will not help Georgia and Georgia-EU relations”, adding the country's course towards the bloc is “not a one-day decision” but the Government’s “firm will” to join the bloc, “based on the will of the Georgian people”.

The lawmaker added the goal involved making decisions “necessary for the stability and economic development of this country” and “necessary” for its integration into the European Union.

Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on Monday said the door for Georgia to become a member of the EU was “open” but added it would close if the country’s Government continued on its current track, following its adoption of the law.

• EU High Representative warns door for Georgia to become bloc’s member “will be closed” due to transparency law

The law requires registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.

It was supported by 84 MPs in the 150-member Parliament, with 30 voting against, and requires the groups “considered to be an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power” to be registered in the public registry with the status and publicise their received funding.