The EU has acknowledged that its policy towards Georgia is neither changing the course of the Georgian Dream government nor protecting Europe's own strategic interests, and will return to the issue in January, JAMnews reported on October 13.
"Our current approach is not creating enough pressure to bring about change, nor is it allowing us to fully pursue Europe's strategic interests. We will return to this issue in January," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said after a meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg on October 12, 2026.
The admission leaves Brussels with an awkward choice: how to raise the pressure on Tbilisi without losing a partner it needs in the Black Sea region. The meeting announced no new sanctions on Georgia, only concern over democratic backsliding, as Georgian Dream presses ahead with a constitutional lawsuit to ban the main opposition parties and the European Parliament calls for sanctions on Bidzina Ivanishvili, the party's founder.
A candidate on paper
Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos has already described Georgia as a candidate "on paper only", and Brussels is drawing up accession roadmaps for Montenegro, Albania, Moldova and Ukraine without it. "As long as they are not moving forward - and are actually moving backwards because of the laws they have adopted - and until there is progress and steps towards European values, we will not cooperate with them," Kos said.
The EU is instead working with civil society. Its ambassador to Georgia, Pawel Herczynski, announced €38mn ($42mn) of new projects for 2026 at a Europe Day event in Telavi, covering education, jobs, rural development and food quality.
Member states bordering the Black Sea are keen to keep Georgia close. "It is very important to involve them in the dialogue on how we ensure security in the Black Sea region," said Bulgarian Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova-Chamova. Romania's Oana-Silvia Toiu stressed energy and transport links, though she rejected Tbilisi's claim that Brussels is the one boycotting dialogue.
Identity, not institutions
Georgian Dream insists its European choice is unchanged while turning on the EU's institutions. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze says the European Commission's leadership is blocking a reset and claims the EU is demanding adoption rights for same-sex couples, a demand that appears in no official EU document. Parliamentary speaker Shalva Papuashvili challenged Kos to say "exactly what she objects to" in Christian values, though her remarks concerned laws and democratic backsliding.
The rhetoric has sharpened. Papuashvili called the Telavi event a political rally and accused Herczynski of breaching the Vienna Convention, and Tbilisi mayor Kakha Kaladze said that "if you gave Kaja Kallas a map, she wouldn't be able to point out where Georgia is."
The cost of balancing
The government defends its refusal to join sanctions on Russia as pragmatic, and Kobakhidze has cited Washington's easing of restrictions on Russian diesel in its support. That position looks less comfortable after Moscow banned Georgian wines, beer and mineral water this month. "Betting on the Russian market will one day lead to disaster," said Gigi Tsereteli, chairman of the opposition European Georgia party.
Papuashvili points instead to growth that has outpaced EU members and candidates, with the economy expanding by an average of 7.6% in the first eight months of the year. "Those who listen to Brussels suffer economic damage, while those who do not see economic growth," he said. The opposition expects January to bring a tougher EU line, though Tsereteli noted that Brussels has so far been "reluctant to take that final step" of blocking Georgia's path to membership altogether.