EPP emergency resolution on Georgia demands free elections, sanctions against ruling party

On April 30, 2025, the European People’s Party (EPP) adopted an emergency resolution at its congress in Valencia, Spain, expressing strong solidarity with the people of Georgia and calling for immediate democratic reforms, including new, free, and fair parliamentary elections. The resolution, titled “Expressing Solidarity with the Georgian People and Demanding New, Free and Fair Elections,” was submitted by delegations from Lithuania, Slovakia, and the EPP Group in EURONEST.

The EPP resolution outlines growing alarm over what it describes as Georgia’s accelerating democratic backsliding following the October 2024 parliamentary elections. The party particularly condemned the Georgian Dream government’s decision to suspend the country’s EU integration process despite having been granted EU candidate status in December 2023. The move, according to the resolution, plunged Georgia into a deep constitutional, political, and human rights crisis.

The EPP sharply criticized what it calls “financial terror” against protesters and opposition figures, highlighting excessive fines exceeding 18 million lari, arbitrary asset freezes targeting civic foundations, and the systematic dismissal of public servants for pro-EU stances. It also condemned the establishment of a parliamentary investigative commission that uses imprisonment threats to suppress dissent, and decried the jailing of 52 political prisoners, including journalist Mzia Amaglobeli and former president Mikheil Saakashvili.

The resolution accused the ruling party of weaponizing the judiciary, referencing a recent case in which a controversial judge imposed a 12.5-year sentence on Saakashvili, who has now spent over three years in political detention. The EPP also criticized the government’s continued refusal to hold police accountable “for brutality against peaceful demonstrators” and noted the withdrawal of Georgian Dream’s delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) following international demands for accountability and new elections.

Moreover, the EPP is demanding the “immediate and unconditional release” of all political prisoners, a halt to the enforcement of repressive laws, and an end to the repression of Georgian citizens. The party called for an independent, transparent investigation into police violence and urged Georgian Dream to set a concrete date for genuinely competitive elections, free from political interference.

At the EU level, the EPP urged the European Council to establish a firm policy on Georgia focused on cutting financial support to the current regime and imposing sanctions on its political, financial, and media elites. It welcomed recent steps by EU institutions, including the suspension of visa-free travel for Georgian diplomats, and encouraged further sectoral sanctions, including disconnecting Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Kartu Bank from SWIFT and Visa/MasterCard systems.

The resolution also calls for targeted EU sanctions against officials, judges, law enforcement, financiers, and pro-government media owners involved in rights violations or democratic erosion. The EPP backed redirecting €120 million in suspended EU financial assistance from the Georgian government to support civil society and independent journalism, citing increased repression and the halt of USAID operations in Georgia.

Lastly, the EPP urged EU institutions and member states not to recognize the legitimacy of the Georgian Dream-controlled parliament or its appointed president, instead recognizing President Salome Zourabishvili as the only legitimate representative of the Georgian people.