Georgia deploys tear gas, water cannon against pro-EU protesters amid ‘Russian law’ outcry – POLITICO

Escalation violates standards

Despite the criticism, Georgian Dream has insisted the new rules are needed to protect the country’s sovereignty. Parliamentarians are expected to vote in favor of the bill at a second reading Wednesday.

In a bombastic speech at a rally outside the parliament on Monday night, prominent oligarch and former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili railed against Western-backed NGOs, claiming a “global war party” was responsible for the war in Ukraine, and vowed to punish his “criminal and treasonous” political rivals after elections in October.

“I promise that having overcome these difficulties, with sovereignty and dignity intact, in 2030, Georgia will join the EU,” he insisted.

But as Jan-Geert Koopman, the EU’s director-general in charge of enlargement and neighborhood policy, prepared for a trip to Georgia that begins Wednesday, the police violence appeared to be hardening views in Brussels.

Speaking to POLITICO as riot police continued to clear the streets of central Tbilisi, German MEP and European Parliament foreign affairs committee member Viola von Cramon-Taubadel called for Koopman to take a tough line with the government in the wake of the crackdown.

“He should announce that there is no EU cooperation,” she said. “All the criteria that Georgia was supposed to meet were not met, and this new escalation is clearly against all the civil standards Georgia was supposed to uphold. We should speak about sanctioning Ivanishvili,” the German lawmaker added.

Gabriel Gavin reported from Tbilisi, Georgia. Dato Parulava reported from Brussels, Belgium.