Georgia has had official EU candidate status since 2023, though Brussels had already halted the accession process earlier this year over a Russia-style law targeting organisations accused of “pursuing the interests of a foreign power”.
Kobakhidze said Georgia would continue to implement the reforms required for accession and that it still planned to join by 2030, but added that it was “crucial for the EU to respect our national interests and traditional values”.
Former Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili told the BBC the country was at an “unprecedented” turning point.
“Since we were independent 30 years ago, we were clearly pro-Western, we were clearly pro-Nato and clearly pro-EU and this was uniting any government that was in place.”
But now, he added, there was an effort “by the bunch of people who are controlling power in Tbilisi and the Kremlin to basically bring Georgia as fast as this is possible to Russian orbit”.
