The European Commission has warned that Georgia continues to miss out on the benefits of EU accession while the process remains “de facto halted”, as it published its annual enlargement report noting the country’s “continued backsliding” and democratic deterioration.
Key points
- The Commission published its 2026 enlargement package on 4 November, including a 62-page communication on enlargement policy and a 90-page report on Georgia.
- It puts Georgia alongside Turkey when highlighting democratic and human rights concerns, and says Georgia’s failure to address them risks the visa-free regime “more generally”.
- The Commission says Georgia’s EU path could resume if the authorities change course and recommit to democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights.
- Georgian Dream officials reject the criticism and accuse Brussels of pressure and political bias.
What the EU said
EU High Representative Kaja Kallas said Georgia has been on a collision course with the EU over democratic backsliding and fundamental rights, and that its accession remains de facto halted. Responding to a journalist, she said EU foreign ministers will hold a deeper discussion on Georgia in January, on how best to support Georgians and their aspirations for European membership.
The Commission’s communication says Georgia remains an EU candidate “in name only” and continues to forego the benefits of candidate status. It says the ruling party has kept undermining the country’s EU path through attacks on democratic principles, the rule of law and fundamental rights and by enabling further state capture, and that civic space has been “severely curtailed” by increasingly repressive legislation. Georgia still falls short of the nine steps set out when it was granted candidate status in 2023.
The Commission also stressed that the EU’s support for Georgia’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and for the European aspirations of Georgians, stands firm, and said it would welcome a resumption of the accession process given strong public support for a European future in Georgia.
Findings on democracy and human rights
The Georgia report says the state of democracy continued to deteriorate during the reporting period, citing eroding democratic institutions, concentrated power, a crackdown on civil and political liberties and anti-EU rhetoric. It says attempts to ban the main opposition parties through a Constitutional Court case threaten the foundations of democracy, and that most opposition leaders are facing criminal charges, are in exile or are imprisoned. The October 2025 local elections, it says, were held under deeply compromised conditions, including pressure on independent media and civil society.
The Commission called for urgent action, including releasing all arbitrarily detained people, among them politicians, journalists and activists, and repealing laws that restrict fundamental rights. It listed the 2024 foreign agents law, the 2025 Foreign Agents Registration Act, amendments to the laws on grants, assemblies and political associations, and the 2024 legislative package on “family values and protection of minors”. It also urged a thorough investigation of allegations of excessive use of force, torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement.
On media freedom, the report says freedom of expression was marked by backsliding for a third consecutive year and that the safety of journalists has further deteriorated, calling for prompt and impartial follow-up to attacks on and intimidation of journalists.
Visa-free travel at risk
The Commission recalled that Georgia failed to implement nearly all the recommendations of the previous visa suspension mechanism report and backtracked further on key governance and rule-of-law benchmarks. A June meeting with the Georgian delegation did not lead to progress, it said. The EU earlier suspended visa-free travel for Georgian holders of diplomatic and service passports.
The report asks Georgia to fulfil the visa liberalisation benchmarks and to address the issue of Georgian nationals staying illegally in the EU and filing unfounded asylum claims.
Foreign and security policy
Georgia’s alignment with EU foreign policy statements and sanctions decisions fell to 38 percent as of 1 September 2026, from 40 percent in 2025, according to the report. There was no political dialogue on foreign and security policy because the EU downgraded political contacts, and Georgia has not taken part in EU common security and defence missions since 2023. The communication noted that Georgia’s economic growth remained strong at 7.5 percent.
The government’s response
Georgian Dream officials reject the Commission’s assessment. Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said ahead of the report that Brussels was choosing confrontation, pressure and coercion over dialogue, and accused the Commission of using “Soviet methods”. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze defended the government’s position, including its plans to ban opposition parties, and criticised the Commission at an enlargement summit in Brussels. The chair of Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee, Nikoloz Samkharadze, said Georgia is ready for dialogue with the EU if discussions are based on legal arguments rather than politics.
What happens next
EU foreign ministers are due to discuss Georgia in January. The Commission has said the accession process could resume if the Georgian authorities change course.
Read more: More Georgia news
