Protesters Georgian police clash over government's EU application delay

TBILISI, GEORGIA — Police clashed with protesters in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, early Friday after the country's ruling party said the government would suspend talks on European Union accession and refuse budgetary grants until 2028.

The country's interior ministry said three police officers were injured.

Police ordered protesters to disperse, fired water cannons, and deployed pepper spray and tear gas as masked young people tried to smash their way into the parliament building. Some protesters tossed fireworks at police while shouting "Russians!" and "Slaves!"

Georgia's relations with the EU have deteriorated sharply in recent months as Brussels has alleged that the government had resorted to authoritarian measures and adopted pro-Russian stands.

Thousands of pro-EU protesters blocked streets in the capital before the altercations began. The country's figurehead president accused the government of declaring war on its own people and confronted riot police, asking whether they served Georgia or Russia.

The Georgian Dream governing bloc accused the EU of "a cascade of insults," saying in a statement it was using the prospect of accession talks to blackmail the country, and to "organize a revolution in the country."

As a result, it said: "We have decided not to put the issue of opening negotiations with the European Union on the agenda until the end of 2028. Also, we refuse any budgetary grant from the European Union until the end of 2028."

The South Caucasus country of 3.7 million has the aim of EU accession written into its constitution and has long been among the most pro-Western of the Soviet Union's successor states.

With months of downturn in relations between Tbilisi and Brussels, the EU had said that Georgia's application for membership was frozen.

Georgian Dream says it is not pro-Russian, and that it is committed to democracy and integration with the West.

It says it still wants to join the EU but has repeatedly engaged in diplomatic feuds with Brussels in recent years, while deepening ties with neighboring Russia.

There was no immediate formal comment from the EU on Georgian Dream's statement. But an EU official said the impact of Thursday's move was huge, adding the government was doing what the EU had feared and had hoped it would not.

Opinion polls show that around 80% of Georgians support EU membership, and the bloc's flag flies alongside the national flag outside virtually all government buildings in the country.

The pro-Western opposition reacted to Georgian Dream's announcement with fury as protesters massed. Local media reported that protests erupted in provincial cities.

Giorgi Vashadze, a prominent opposition leader, wrote on Facebook: "The self-proclaimed, illegitimate government has already legally signed the betrayal of Georgia and the Georgian people."

President Salome Zourabichvili, a pro-EU critic of Georgian Dream whose powers are mostly ceremonial, said the ruling party had "declared not peace, but war against its own people, its past and future."

Zourabichvili's term ends in December, and Georgian Dream has nominated a former lawmaker with hard-line anti-Western views to replace her.

The opposition says that an October election, in which official results gave the Georgian Dream bloc almost 54% of the vote, was fraudulent, and members have refused to take their seats. Western countries demand a probe into the alleged irregularities.

Both Georgian Dream and the country's election commission say the election was free and fair.

Earlier on Thursday, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told journalists that EU membership might harm Georgia's economy, as it would require Tbilisi to cancel visa-free agreements and trade deals with other countries.

The EU gave Georgia candidate status in December 2023 but has said that a raft of laws passed since by Georgian Dream, including curbs on "foreign agents" and LGBTQ rights, are authoritarian and Russian-inspired and are obstacles to EU membership.

Foreign and domestic critics of Georgian Dream say the party, which is seen as dominated by its billionaire founder, ex-Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, is steering Georgia back toward Moscow, from which it gained independence in 1991.

Russia and Georgia have had no formal diplomatic relations since Moscow won a brief 2008 war but have had a limited rapprochement recently.

Opinion polls show most Georgians dislike Russia, which continues to back two breakaway Georgian regions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking during a visit to Kazakhstan, praised the "courage and character" he said Georgian authorities had shown in passing the law on foreign agents, which domestic critics have likened to Russian legislation.