EU strips Georgia of €121M in funding over ‘democratic backsliding’

The European Union will cancel €121 million in funds earmarked to help develop Georgia’s economy and support its path toward EU membership, Brussels has confirmed, due to Tbilisi’s growing crackdown on dissent.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the EU delegation in Georgia said the South Caucasus nation “will lose €121 million in EU assistance, as a result of democratic backsliding.”

The bloc announced in July that Georgia’s accession process “is stopped for now” after the country’s authoritarian government passed a controversial Russian-style bill that will brand Western-backed NGOs and media outlets as ‘foreign agents.’ Riot police used tear gas and batons to disperse protests against the bill over the summer.

According to the EU delegation, the decision will also affect remaining unspent funds that had been allocated in 2022 and 2023.

In December Georgia was given candidate status to join the EU, and has received billions of dollars in support from aid and development agencies from both the EU and the U.S. The funding has been used to bolster civil society, as well as to invest in critical sectors like agriculture and tourism that provide livelihoods for tens of thousands of people.

But according to the ruling Georgian Dream party, Western-funded NGOs are undermining the “unique history, traditions and identity” of the country.

Governing lawmakers have also voted through a bill banning all public reference to the LGBTQ+ community and outlawing Pride events. The country’s most prominent transgender woman was murdered the day after the law passed.

Georgians vote in parliamentary elections Oct. 26. Georgian Dream, which leads in the polls, has vowed to ban the opposition and block rival MPs from taking up their seats if the party wins a sufficiently large majority.

Last month, a spokesperson for the European Commission told POLITICO that “all options are on the table” if the country continues on its current trajectory, and that a preferential deal that allows its citizens to visit the EU without visas could be cancelled.

The U.S., meanwhile, has imposed sanctions on senior police officers and Georgian Dream politicians in the wake of the passage of the ‘foreign agent’ law and the attacks on demonstrators.