Motion: A European future for Georgia

tabled by the SPD, Alliance 90/The Greens and FDP parliamentary groups

German Bundestag
Printed paper 20/[…]
20th electoral term    [Date] 

The Bundestag is requested to adopt the following resolution:

I.    The Bundestag notes:

It is primarily thanks to Georgia’s courageous civil society, and its decades of dedication to democracy and the rule of law, freedom and independence, that Georgia has developed since the Rose Revolution of 2003 into one of the region’s more progressive and democratic states, which has moved closer to the European Union. Both United National Movement’s and Georgian Dream’s terms in government have seen progress towards greater alignment with the EU, but both have seen setbacks too. In pursuing the authoritarian and anti-European direction that the current Georgian Government has embarked on, however, the country’s political leaders are wilfully putting Georgia’s future within the EU at risk, contrary to the wishes of the broad majority of the Georgian population. With the law on the so-called „transparency of foreign influence“ in force, there can and will be no further progress in the EU accession process.

The hope of EU membership is not least enshrined in Article 78 of the Georgian Constitution, which specifies integration into the European Union as a state objective. The European Union has responded to Georgia’s ambitions: Georgia is part of the Eastern Partnership under the European Neighbourhood Policy and has concluded an Association and Free Trade Agreement with the EU, which has been in force since 1 July 2016. Georgia applied for membership of the European Union on 3 March 2022. The European Council decision of 14 December 2022 granted Georgia candidate status. Candidate status was granted on the understanding that Georgia would take nine prioritised steps, including extensive judicial reform and reinforcement of anti-corruption authorities, before further integration occurs. Thereby, more than 30 years after the restoration of Georgia’s independence, the European Union has opened the way for that country to join the EU. It is now up to Georgia’s political decision-makers to take the necessary steps to fulfil the wishes of its people and the objective of its Constitution and to complete its European journey.

Granting Georgia candidate status was also an expression of solidarity with its people, who have repeatedly in recent history stood up for the independence of their state and for their country’s European future. Georgia has been and remains to this day a victim of imperialist Russian aggression. Since the five-day war in 2008, Russian troops have exercised de facto control over a fifth of Georgia’s territory in contravention of international law, and Russia has recognised the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. To this day, Russia has not met its obligations under the Six-point Peace Plan of 15 August 2008, which include the withdrawal of Russian troops. The German Bundestag is committed to Georgia’s territorial integrity. Russia’s felonious war against Ukraine has given rise to fears, in Georgia as elsewhere, of Russia launching another war against Georgia. People in Georgia are following developments in Ukraine with great empathy and solidarity.

All the major political forces in the country have in the past proclaimed membership of the EU and NATO as objectives. At the same time, there have been signs for some years of increasing polarisation between the governing party, Georgian Dream, and a large proportion of the opposition and civil society. The increasingly authoritarian and socially divisive governing style of Georgian Dream is one of the causes behind the heightening of political disagreements in the run-up to the parliamentary elections on 26 October 2024. The goal of holding onto power for the honorary chairman and founder of the party, Georgian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, is being prioritised higher than Georgia’s European future and democratic stability.

The Bundestag considers it a grave mistake to have conclusively adopted the law on the so-called „transparency of foreign influence“. This was done in spite of the pledge to the contrary which the Georgian Government had made in the early summer of 2023, the massive, months-long public protests, the vetoes issued by the President, the clear statement of position from the EU, and the clear recommendation from the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe that the law be repealed. That law is incompatible with the central values and democratic principles of the EU. It specifically contradicts two of the nine reform priorities agreed between the EU and the Georgian Government, namely ensuring that civil society can operate freely (step 9) and fighting disinformation against the EU and its values (step 1). The spirit of that law is in alignment with Russia’s „foreign agents law“.

In adopting it, the Georgian Government has broken with the European Union in a way that contradicts the constitutional objective and deeply held wish of the Georgian people to pursue European integration. The public has held peaceful, inter-generational and united protests for many weeks calling for the law to be repealed. The peaceful protesters have the solidarity and the recognition of the German Bundestag.

A free environment for independent media and civil-society players is crucial to a functioning democracy and to Georgia’s European journey. The transparency obligation must not be used as a pretext for stigmatising civil-society organisations and restricting their freedom of action. The Bundestag expects the intimidations, threats and attacks directed at representatives of civil society, journalists, the LGBTQIA+ community and opposition politicians to be immediately stopped and the perpetrators prosecuted. The Bundestag underlines the fact that free and independent civil society and free and independent media are indispensable to a stable democratic society and vital for critical oversight of the radical reforms necessary for accession to the EU.

The independent cultural sector in Georgia is one of the driving forces of democratic protest and a key component of an open and democratic society. The Bundestag emphasises the need to protect the rights of cultural practitioners and safeguard artistic freedom and independence. This includes ensuring that the management of public cultural institutions is independent of governmental influence.

The Bundestag moreover deplores the violence and atmosphere of intimidation observed on the streets on Tbilisi. The disproportionate use of violence against protesters is incompatible with Georgia’s international human rights obligations. Georgians, who have expressed their clear commitment to democracy on numerous occasions, must be able to peacefully exercise their right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. The targeted threats, intimidatory violence and wide-ranging defamation campaigns conducted in the public and private spheres, which have been directed against individuals in civil society, the media and the opposition and against local staff of international organisations and members of their families, are unacceptable. The pressure being put on civil servants not to oppose the policies of the governing party, Georgian Dream, and to support it publicly – even on pain of dismissal – likewise contradicts the principles of democracy and the rule of law to which Georgia, as a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights and as a member of the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, has committed itself.

By engaging in ever-more authoritarian conduct and dividing society into friends/patriots and enemies/traitors, Georgian Dream’s leaders are trying to generate a climate of fear. No attempt has been made to combat polarisation. The latest declaration from the Georgian premier, Irakli Kobakhidze, announcing his intent to ban key opposition parties after the parliamentary elections, is absolutely unacceptable and incompatible with democracy as Europe understands it.

Georgian Dream is moreover inciting fear of sexual minorities and using disinformation and invective against LGBTQIA+ people for electoral purposes. The stigmatisation of LGBTQIA+ people as a political tactic and the latest legislation massively curbing their rights are unacceptable to the German Bundestag. They are contributing to an additional divide within Georgian society.

For Georgia, the coming parliamentary election is becoming a choice of direction on the democratic and constitutional nature of the state and on the country’s European journey. The attacks on independent election observation organisations, the adverse effects of the law on the so-called „transparency of foreign influence“ on their ability to do their work, the recent changes to electoral law which boost the influence of the governing party within the Central Election Commission, and the mobilisation of administrative resources to support the policies of Georgian Dream cast doubt on the equality and freedom of the upcoming parliamentary elections. The parliamentary elections must be held in an environment that is fair and free of violence and which facilitates respectful and peaceful engagement with political issues. In the interests of its citizens, as an EU accession candidate, and as a member of the Council of Europe and the OSCE, Georgia must respect and protect those fundamental principles for democratic elections. In light of this, the Bundestag welcomes Georgia’s invitation to the ODIHR to observe the parliamentary elections. The international community is called upon to scrutinise the upholding of democratic principles in the Georgian parliamentary elections. The German Bundestag stands ready to take part in the election observation mission in Georgia.

II.    The Bundestag calls on the Federal Government, with due regard for budgetary requirements,

• to work at the European level to see the European Council Conclusions of 27 June 2024 implemented in full;
• to insist at the European level that, moreover, no further progress occurs in Georgia’s EU accession process while the law on the so-called „transparency of foreign influence“ remains in force. The Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, too, has called for the law to be repealed;
• to advocate in the spirit of the European Council Conclusions of 27 June 2024 for free and fair parliamentary elections by supporting the international election observation missions of the OSCE (ODIHR) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and by making the future development of relations with Georgia dependent on free and fair parliamentary elections;
• in assessing the elections on the basis of the OSCE and Council of Europe reports, to pay particular attention to whether undemocratic practices identified by long-term observers in the run-up to the elections cast doubt on the legitimacy of those elections, e.g. the mobilisation of administrative resources to support the policies of the governing party; 
• to call on Georgia’s leaders to put a stop to the unlawful criminal prosecution of peaceful protesters by the police and the public prosecutor’s office; 
• to work at the European level to see the repeal of the laws which massively curb LGBTQIA+ people’s rights made a condition of any further progress in Georgia’s EU accession process and to urge the Georgian Dream parliamentary majority to withdraw that legislation, as the legislative and constitutional amendments being sought are an attack not only on the LGBTQIA+ community but also on human rights, freedom of opinion and a free civil society;
• to work at the European level to ensure that the Georgian Government be called on, in the context of the EU accession process, to withdraw the „offshore law“ adopted in May 2024, which could weaken economic transparency and anti-corruption efforts as well as facilitating the circumvention of sanctions; 
• to call on Russia to respect the territorial integrity of Georgia without reservation and resolutely to condemn all Russian influence in the areas under the illegal de facto control of Russian troops and any attempt to further destabilise Georgia; 
• to advocate at the European level for visa-free travel to remain in place for the people of Georgia in spite of the government’s democratic regression, as suspending it would affect the entire population, including the pro-European forces; 
• to provide bureaucratically uncomplicated support to civil-society activists and LGBTQIA+ people affected by repressive measures and adapt protective measures as required;
• to keep a close eye on the situation in Georgia in order to take note of any offences which could occasion targeted sanctions;
• to intensify cooperation and cultural exchange with Georgian civil society and, when granting federal funds to Georgian public bodies, to ensure that they are not used to distance the country from democratic standards.

Berlin, xx.xx.2024

Dr Rolf Mützenich and the SPD parliamentary group
Katharina Dröge, Britta Haßelmann and the Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary group
Christian Dürr and the FDP parliamentary group