The Kremlin's war on Ukraine has split Eastern Europe, prompting Moldova and Ukraine to grow closer to the European Union while Georgia has exhibited a "penchant for appeasing Russia," according to a new report.
The report by the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum published on January 24 says Georgia "has flatlined in its overall EU approximation because of serious backsliding in fundamental freedoms, democracy and governance-related indicators, the government’s evident disregard for civil society and its penchant for appeasing Russia, which is at odds with the EU consensus."
While Moldova and Ukraine improved their public administration in 2023, there was a "downwards drift in politically polarized Georgia," the report, called the Eastern Partnership Index, notes.
It adds that Georgia had "lost considerable ground" in terms of democracy and good governance.
Georgia was granted EU candidacy status in December 2023, while Ukraine and Moldova were shown the green light to begin negotiations to join the bloc.
The report notes that Georgia was afforded the status "even though" it had engaged in "anti-Western rhetoric" and attempted, but failed, to pass a controversial "foreign agents" bill in 2023.
Ukraine and Moldova, however, "are steadily making the kinds of systemic changes that Brussels expects them to do to proceed along the accession path."
The report says Georgia's "declining alignment with significant EU statements and its liberal trade policy," including strategic cooperation with China, could become "a critical concern for the EU in the future."
It also notes a "glaring" contradiction between Georgia's stated aspirations to join the bloc and its "reluctance to adhere to the EU's foreign policy consensus."
"While the Georgian government presents its foreign policy as pragmatic, its voting patterns clearly suggest a departure from an EU-style values-based normative approach," the report says.
The report suggests that "eliminating informal governance and oligarchic influences" were among key measures that could help Tbilisi in "realizing rules-based democratic institutions in line with EU membership norms."
This comes as Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire founder of Georgia's ruling Georgian Dream party, announced in December 2023 that he was returning to politics as the party's "honorary chairman," a decision he described as "unpleasant."
The Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum is an umbrella network of nongovernmental organizations from the region and the European Union. Its mission is to aid civil societies in the planning, monitoring and implementation of the Eastern partnership policy that is aimed at bringing Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine closer to the EU.