Strasbourg (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The Greens/EFA urge the international community to reject Georgia’s election results, call for a re-run under supervision, repeal repressive laws, and impose EU sanctions on officials.
The European Parliament today, on November 28, 2024, is set to adopt the resolution on Georgia’s deteriorating democratic crisis following the parliamentary vote on October 26 and alleged electoral deception.Â
As reported by the press of the European Parliament, in a vote at noon on Georgia’s worsening democratic situation, MEPs are expected to call for parliamentary elections to be re-run under international oversight. The draft text also demands EU sanctions against Georgia’s Prime Minister and other high-level administrators and states that the policies pursued by the Georgian government are inconsistent with the country’s Euro-Atlantic integration prospects.
How do the Greens/EFA view Georgia’s democratic crisis?
The Greens/European Free Alliance, a political group of the European Parliament, together with the other progressive groups, urges the international community not to recognise the reported results and calls for a re-run of the parliamentary elections as well as the abolition of repressive legislation, including the recently adopted “foreign influence” and anti-LGBTQ+ laws.
Greens/EFA MEP MarkĂ©ta Gregorová, Vice-Chair of the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly and the group’s shadow rapporteur on the resolution, stated that for Georgia to remain a free and sovereign nation with a democratic future, it must restore trust in its elections and democratic institutions. She emphasized that, on behalf of the European Parliament, the Georgian Parliamentary elections were not considered legitimate and called on Georgian authorities to engage in dialogue with the President and opposition to find necessary solutions.
She emphasized that the democratic backsliding in EU candidate country Georgia could not be ignored and that the European Union must remain firm in its commitment to defend human rights and freedoms. In this context, the European Parliament supported the use of the halted €120 million financial aid to assist civil society and independent media, while also calling for targeted sanctions against individuals responsible for election manipulation.
