Tbilisi mayor defends Georgia’s EU integration path amid criticism over 2028 delay “No blackmail will stop us”

Georgian authorities will not allow anyone to blackmail the Georgian people. If the European Union wants to open negotiations on Georgia's EU accession, the Georgian side is ready to proceed.

This statement came from Kakha Kaladze, Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party and Mayor of Tbilisi, Caliber.Az reports, citing Georgian media.

Recently, Georgian authorities announced that the opening of EU accession negotiations would be removed from the agenda until 2028, citing concerns over the issue being used as a tool for blackmail. In response, the President and opposition immediately labelled this as evidence of the authorities' refusal to integrate into the EU, sparking protests in major cities across the country.

“By 2028 we will have other economic indicators. We will advance on all indicators. By 2030 we will be ready to become a full member of the EU. If they want to start negotiations earlier, here we are, let them open it, who refuses to do so?” Kaladze declared.

He emphasized that the question of whether Georgia can move to the next stage of EU rapprochement — the stage of negotiations — should not be used as a political weapon.

First, according to Kaladze, this weapon was the question of whether Georgia would be granted candidate status for EU membership, and now it is the question of opening negotiations.

“Do you want to open negotiations? Open them, we are ready, who is stopping you?” Kaladze said.

He further stressed that the Georgian authorities would not allow anyone to blackmail the Georgian people.

“Everyone will have to accept that Georgia is not a territory. Georgia is a homeland. Both inside and outside the country, let them deign and respect the Georgian people, culture, traditions, and past,” Kaladze stated.

The Mayor of Tbilisi called the wave of protests that followed the Georgian authorities’ decision to remove the opening of negotiations on EU accession from the agenda until 2028 a “fake.”

“This falsity,” he said, “is based on lies — allegedly the authorities have decided to suspend the EU accession process.”

“We have repeatedly stated that we are doing everything to ensure the country’s European integration, but it must be done honourably,” Kaladze added.

He emphasized that the authorities would not allow anyone to treat Georgia the way it has been treated in recent months.

“We hear insulting statements and adopted resolutions (such as tough European Parliament resolutions on Georgia), which are saturated with lies, slander, and blackmail. No one will be given an opportunity to blackmail,” Kaladze declared.

The Mayor also recalled a statement made by EU Ambassador to Georgia, Pawel Herczynski, before the parliamentary elections, in which he said that accession negotiations would not be opened unless the “Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence” was repealed.

Furthermore, Kaladze pointed out that the EU has made it clear that EU enlargement will not happen before 2030.

“And then what is the problem? This is a false protest, all lies,” Kaladze said.

He stressed that any country wishing to join the EU must meet certain criteria, particularly in terms of economic development and quality of life.

“All this cannot be achieved if we don’t have economic development. If we don’t have peace, we will have neither economic development nor progress,” Kaladze emphasized.

Georgia is currently a candidate country for EU membership, having received this status in December 2023, a year after Ukraine and Moldova, which the Georgian authorities called an injustice.

The Georgian authorities’ decision to remove the opening of negotiations on EU accession from the agenda until 2028 is aimed solely at minimizing political blackmail on the country’s path to the EU, according to Irakli Kadagishvili, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party.

This decision was announced by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, who explained that Georgia would continue working to fulfil its obligations under the Association Agreement with the EU, and by the end of 2028, the country would be sufficiently prepared to open negotiations for EU accession in 2030.

“The only thing we are trying to do is to minimize political blackmail on the way to the EU,” Kadagishvili said.

The MP further explained that two parallel processes are taking place in Georgia’s European integration path. One process, he noted, is the material side — what Georgia, as a state, is doing to meet EU standards.

“We see that in this respect, Georgia maintains a leading position among all candidate countries. Our reforms, economy, politics, and many aspects are moving forward step by step and getting closer to European standards,” Kadagishvili said.

He pointed out that this progress is reflected in the official evaluation documents and reports from the European Union.

“The second process is a purely political one, aimed at somehow bringing about a change of power in this country through external intervention. It is to this that a noble cause and the idea of rapprochement with the EU is sacrificed,” Kadagishvili emphasized.

By Tamilla Hasanova