Georgian Dream Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili says Tbilisi is aware of “a number of” EU member states supporting Georgia’s bid to chair the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2027, despite reports of objections within the EU.
She has also cited a lack of consensus over the candidacy of Cyprus as an argument for Georgia’s aspired chairmanship, while noting that the OSCE is “not only an EU region.”
“Slovakia has openly stated that it will support Georgia’s candidacy for the OSCE chairmanship in 2027,” Botchorishvili said in her October 7 remarks to the pro-government Imedi TV. “Behind closed doors, we are also aware of the positions of a number of EU member states that they will support Georgia’s candidacy,” she added, acknowledging, however, that a single country can block a decision.
The OSCE, which brings together 57 participating states from Europe, North America and Central Asia, makes major decisions by consensus, meaning a single state can block it.
According to Botchorishvili, Georgia made its first-ever bid for the OSCE chairmanship in January, expecting the decision by the OSCE Ministerial Council scheduled to take place on December 3-4 in Lugano, Switzerland. Botchorishvili has openly campaigned for Georgia’s chairmanship on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.
Her remarks come after Brussels-based news outlet Rapporteur reported earlier in October that the EU was standing in the way of Georgia’s bid, with Cyprus enjoying support from EU countries and the bloc as a whole despite a deadlock caused by Turkish objections over its candidacy.
Citing diplomats, the outlet said that the Baltic states were particularly opposed to Georgia’s candidacy, “reflecting concerns over Tbilisi’s increasingly difficult relationship with the EU and its approach to Russia,” while Serbia was also considering a bid to chair the organization next year.
According to Botchorishvili, the EU member states “can agree to adopt a common position, but within the OSCE, it is the position of each individual participating state that is recorded.”
She said Tbilisi deliberately refrained from actively campaigning until September as it was ready to back Cyprus in case of a consensus. “Unfortunately, no decision could be reached because of Turkey’s position, which has not changed to this day,” she said, adding that the EU “can, of course, support Cyprus, but we all know very well that reaching consensus on Cyprus is impossible.”
“A fact is a fact. Today, Georgia is the only country on which we do not know whether there is a final decision. We do know that no consensus has been reached regarding Cyprus.”
OSCE ‘Not Only EU Region’
The GD Foreign Minister further cited Georgia’s geographical position as an argument to support its aspired chairmanship, noting that “no country from our region” has previously held the position, and even from Central Asia, it was only Kazakhstan, which chaired OSCE in 2010.
“The organization covers a vast region. It is not only an EU region,” she said. “Georgia is, in a sense, in the middle of the organization.”
Botchorishvili said Tbilisi plans to host OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ignazio Cassis, the foreign minister of Switzerland, a country that holds the OSCE chairmanship in 2026.
Georgia’s bid comes amid strained relations with the EU over concerns about “democratic backsliding” and Georgian Dream’s anti-Western rhetoric.
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