Georgia’s relations with the European Union have taken another hit after Germany’s four major political foundations opted to close their offices in Tbilisi. Foundation officials made the decision to shutter operations after Georgian Dream officials repeatedly rejected plans made by the donors to continue funding projects in accordance with a new Law on Grants.
The German ambassador placed the blame for the moves squarely on the ruling Georgian Dream party, which over the past two years has halted EU accession efforts and steered the country away from Europe while enhancing ties with Russia and China.
“All four foundations, which supported Georgia’s path to European integration for decades, were forced to suspend work due to the Georgian government’s decision,” Ambassador Barbara Voss said at a German Unity Day reception in Tbilisi in early October.
Government pressure on foreign-funded civic organizations in Georgia, including independent media and watchdog groups, has been building for years. The government first passed a “foreign agents” law in 2024. In March 2025, it went further, requiring organizations to obtain government approval before accepting money from abroad.
The Konrad Adenauer, Friedrich Naumann, Heinrich Böll and Friedrich Ebert foundations are the ones now leaving. Their work to promote civil society in Georgia dates back to the early 2000s. Since then, they have backed democratization, human rights, education, and more, through grants, civic education programs, research, and scholarships.
Government critics see the foundations’ joint exit as an indication that Berlin is finally turning its back on Georgian Dream, considering that each foundation maintains a strong connection to four of Germany’s most prominent political parties.
The Konrad Adenauer Foundation is affiliated with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Friedrich Naumann Foundation with the Free Democratic Party, the Heinrich Böll Foundation with Alliance 90/The Greens and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation with the Social Democratic Party. All the entities are legally independent. Still, they share their respective party affiliates’ broad values and are often seen as intellectual or ideological allies. Each foundation also receives funds from the federal German budget, therefore their allocations and spending can be seen as a reflection of German politics.
For Georgian Dream leaders intent on pursuing an illiberal political course, the foundations’ association with German political parties is a source of suspicion.
Shalva Papuashvili, speaker of Georgia’s rubber-stamp parliament, recently underscored those concerns, offering convoluted reasoning in an attempt to connect one of the four departing German foundations to the Georgian opposition. He noted the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s ties to Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), then said that “the CDU is a member of the EPP (European People’s Party) and a partner party of the United National Movement [the previous party in power in Georgia].”
In a letter to Kaja Kallas, the European Commission’s vice president, the ALDE Party, a coalition of European liberals and democrats, called for the imposition of EU sanctions on Georgia, stating that “the Georgian Dream regime is squeezing out independent voices, pushing Georgia further from Europe.”
“No more looking the other way,” the letter added.
Georgia’s ties with the EU have never been worse, and EU enlargement commissioner Marta Kos recently affirmed that “Georgia is a candidate country only on paper.” She went on to highlight that the Georgian government’s stance toward the EU was at odds with the will of the majority of the population.
“I would like Georgia, with the huge support of the Georgian people, to be at the same level as Moldova and Ukraine today,” she said. Ukraine and Moldova, although they were granted candidate status at the same time as Georgia, have already opened accession negotiations with the EU.
International donor organizations are not the only ones feeling the squeeze. Under a string of government measures, local NGOs working across social, economic, and political fields have either shut down or sharply cut their work during the last two years.