Georgia's EU Accession Process Suspended: Ambassador
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The process of Georgia's accession to the European Union (EU) has been suspended, Ambassador of the European Union to Georgia Pawel Herczynski said on Tuesday.
The decision was made by EU leaders during the last European Council meeting on June 27, Herczynski noted, adding that the EU has also frozen its 30-million-euro (32.46-million-US-dollar) support for Georgia from the European Peace Facility for 2024, Xinhua reported.
"The European Council calls on Georgia's authorities to clarify their intentions by reversing the current course of action which jeopardizes Georgia's EU path, de facto leading to a halt of the accession process," a document adopted at the last European Council meeting read.
The decision was made following Georgia's recent development around the law on "Transparency on Foreign Influence," which Herczynski on Tuesday called "a step backwards."
Under the legislation, media and non-governmental organizations that receive over 20 percent of their funding from abroad will have to register as "organizations acting in the interest of a foreign power."
The Georgian parliament passed the law in the third reading on May 14, but was then vetoed by Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili. On May 28, the Georgian parliament overrode the veto and adopted the law.
Georgia applied for EU membership in March 2022 and was granted candidate status in December 2023.