Georgia Leaves Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Executive Summary:

• On January 29, the Republic of Georgia ceased participation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) after the latter demanded new parliamentary elections and the release of political prisoners.
• Tbilisi’s exit from PACE threatens its eligibility for EU candidacy. The move signals a shift from pro-European policies, jeopardizing democratic reforms, straining relations with key Western institutions, and challenging the ruling Georgian Dream party’s legitimacy.
• Georgia’s government, under Georgian Dream, shows a decreasing commitment to European values, and its turn from the West reflects rising authoritarian tendencies and waning European identity as it pivots closer to Russia.

On January 29, the Georgian government announced it was ceasing its participation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) (TV Imedi, January 29). This occurred after PACE approved a resolution demanding the Georgian government call new parliamentary elections and release political prisoners (PACE, January 29). This resolution, for the first time in the history of independent Georgia, recognizes the existence of political prisoners in the country and questions the legitimacy of the ruling Georgian Dream party.

PACE includes delegations of national parliaments of forty-six member countries. Its work serves as “guidelines for the Committee of Ministers, national governments, parliaments, and political parties” (PACE, accessed February 3). Since the Georgian opposition does not recognize the results of Georgia’s parliamentary elections and refuses to take their place in parliament, there are currently no representatives of the opposition in the Georgian delegation to PACE (PACE, accessed February 3).

Notably, PACE initially discussed another draft resolution refusing to approve the credentials of the delegation of the newly elected one-party parliament in Georgia (PACE, January 27). Instead, PACE temporarily approved the credentials of the Georgian delegation in the parliamentary assembly with limited rights and on the condition that the Georgian government appoint new parliamentary elections by April of this year and release political prisoners. Compared to the critical resolutions of the European Parliament, the PACE resolution is mandatory since Georgia is a member of the Council of Europe. Because Georgian Dream does not intend to call new parliamentary elections or consider the October 2024 elections illegitimate, it announced the end of its participation with PACE as a sign of protest. Moreover, in place of releasing the existing fifty-three prisoners, among whom are civil activists and one female journalist, new arrests and raids on civil activists have occurred (Netgazeti.ge, January 27; Radiotavisupleba.ge, January 31).

Georgia is not the first former Soviet country to experience difficulties with the Council of Europe. The organization monitors compliance with democratic norms, especially in the former Soviet countries of Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus. It has repeatedly encountered difficulties in Belarus, Russia, and Azerbaijan. Belarus does not have membership in the Council of Europe, and PACE has recently denounced the presidential elections in Belarus, in which Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka won 86.82 percent of votes, as lacking “any democratic credibility” (see EDM, January 29; PACE, January 30). Russia was expelled in 2022 due to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine (Consultative Council of European Prosecutors, March 17, 2022). Azerbaijan stopped working in PACE in 2024 in protest against the challenge to the powers of its delegation (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; PACE, January 24, 2024).  

According to Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, PACE is a secondary body, and there is no point in Georgia participating in its “Soviet-style approaches” (IMEDI, February 3). He stated, “As far as the Council of Europe is concerned, here, naturally, we remain its members, and our cooperation will continue in various formats” (Facebook.com/KobakhidzeOfficial, January 29). The Chairman of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, stated that if the Georgian Parliament does not receive fair treatment, then it will not participate in PACE (Interpressnews.ge, January 29). The head of the Georgian Dream delegation to PACE and one of the influential leaders of the Georgian Dream, Tea Tsulukiani, stated,

The members of our parliamentary delegation will resume their participation in the Parliamentary Assembly only after the unfair attitude toward the Georgian state and people changes, the blackmail stops, and all official and unofficial decision-makers, as well as the forces behind them, understand that such pressure will not force Georgia and the authorities elected by its population to take any anti-Georgian steps (TV Imedi, January 29).

In Georgia, local observers are concerned that Georgian Dream’s confrontational policies and the collapse of the Georgian Dream delegation in PACE may ultimately cause Georgia to lose its membership in the Council of Europe (Interpressnews.ge, January 31). While Azerbaijan did not lose membership in the Council of Europe after its delegation left PACE, it is not impossible for Georgia’s situation to be different. PACE President Theódoros Roussópoulos explained that the Georgian delegation to PACE must participate in the Assembly, as the credentials of its members have been ratified (Civil.ge, January 31).

A key difference between Azerbaijan’s experiences with the Council of Europe compared to Georgia’s is that the former does not claim membership in the European Union, while Georgia is an EU candidate country. Any confrontation with the Council of Europe could negatively affect Georgia’s integration into the European Union, which was already suspended by Kobakhidze in November 2024 (see EDM, December 6, 10, 2024). Even though the Council of Europe is not formally connected with the European Union, membership in it is considered a sort of preparatory stage, especially for former Soviet countries. Membership in the Council of Europe has held practical significance for Georgia for many years, helping to transform and democratize the country. For example, the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights plays a special role for Georgia, serving as the last resort for citizens to protect their civil rights (Council of Europe, accessed February 3).

In 1999, Georgia became the first state in the South Caucasus to become a member of the Council of Europe (Council of Europe Office in Georgia, accessed February 3). The then-leadership of Georgia made great efforts to prove the country’s European identity, and Georgia’s membership in the Council of Europe became the first recognition of Georgia as a European country. For Georgians, membership in the Council of Europe is reflective of Georgian national identity. In 1999, the then Chairman of Georgia’s parliament, Zurab Zhvania, proclaimed, “I am Georgian, and therefore, I am European” (YouTube/@GeorgianBroadcaster, May 26, 2022). The absence of the EU flag during the inauguration of the new president of Georgia, Mikheil Kavelashvili, on December 29, 2024, was a clear visual reflection of Georgian Dream’s alienation from Europe was how the EU flag was absent during the inauguration of the new president of Georgia, Mikheil Kavelashvili, on December 29, 2024 (YouTube/@GeorgianBroadcaster, December 29, 2024). Local media recently reported that the EU flag had been removed from the ceremonial hall of Kavelashvili’s residence (TV Pirveli, January 30). After the Rose Revolution of 2003, at the initiative of then-President Mikheil Saakashvili, EU flags were hung as a mandatory attribute in all government institutions and in the offices of senior officials to emphasize the country’s European aspirations.

In Georgia, the threat of losing membership in the Council of Europe is already being assessed as a loss of the country’s European identity. The current Georgian government is likely unconcerned with this potential loss. On the contrary, they are increasingly encouraging it. The newly elected (by the electoral college) president of Georgia, Mikheil Kavelashvili, in an interview with the Swiss edition of Neue Zürcher Zeitung, stated, “We must not give up our differences and not be only Europeans” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung, January 30; 1tv.ge, January 31). If Tbilisi’s confrontation with the European Union and the United States, which has been developing dramatically in recent times, indicates a change in the foreign policy vector from the West to Russia, Georgian Dream’s confrontation with the Council of Europe is a loud signal that the formation of an authoritarian regime has begun in Georgia.