Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda says he does not support calls by some European Parliament members to suspend Georgia’s EU candidate status, arguing that such a move would let down the civic society opposing the government.
“The candidate status is just one step on the ladder of European integration. I don’t think that I should now initiate something that would set Georgia back, because this would probably greatly disappoint the civic society that is currently taking to the streets and expressing their protest,” he told reporters in Vilnius.
Protests have been shaking Georgia whose government wants to pass a controversial “foreign influence” bill.
If adopted, the law will require all media outlets and NGOs that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from foreign sources to register as an “organisation acting in the interests of a foreign state”.
The opposition warns that the law could derail Georgia’s efforts to join the EU. Critics call it “the Russian bill”, referring to Russia’s “foreign agent” law which the Kremlin uses to silence its critics.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has vowed to veto the bill if it clears the third reading.
Nausėda said the law would amount to “transferring Russian culture, Russian modus operandi to the Georgian space”.
“It is rolling Georgia back on its European integration road. By moving forward in this way, they will actually go backwards. All these signals have been sent,” the president said.
“Georgia’s integration will stop and may even begin to degrade if the government does not come to its senses,” he added.
However, Nausėda said, he hopes that Georgia’s civil society will have its way.
“They are determined to fight back against attempts of this kind, and Europe must help them to do so,” the president said.
“Georgia has a chance, Georgia has a chance today, so let’s allow Georgia to live the way it lives, and most importantly, let its civil society act,” he added.
In a letter to Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, several dozen MEPs have called for a tougher response to the situation in Georgia and suggested to consider suspending its EU candidate status if the current government fails to make changes.
Georgia was granted EU candidate status at the end of last year.
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