Many Georgians viewed the vote as a pivotal referendum on the country’s effort to join the EU. Granted candidate status last year, Georgia saw its EU accession process halted over the summer after ruling party Georgian Dream passed a slew of Russian-style legislation targeting Western-backed NGOs and cracking down on LGBTQ+ rights. EU foreign ministers will … Read more
“I consider it a top priority to launch the work on the Commission proposal for the animal transport regulation as soon as possible,” she told POLITICO, adding that there’s already “sufficient data to start digging into the proposal, so there is no need to delay the process further with yet another EPRS study.” While the … Read more
According to Ketevan Chachava, a fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, “the polling station results we are seeing now are based on the electronic voting machines — around two-thirds of the overall, but that could still change. However, the expectation is that Georgian Dream’s votes would be lower than previous elections and this figure … Read more
“A new wind is blowing in Europe,” said the Dutch anti-Islam, anti-immigration, populist Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders in Brussels on Thursday after a meeting of far-right leaders. Migration has been at the forefront for Europe’s politicians since 2015, when more than a million migrants, many of them Syrians fleeing war, made their way to … Read more
“They have said that they want historical reconciliation,” Lavrov said of the ruling Georgian Dream party. “What form this reconciliation takes is up to the states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to decide … If there is interest from all sides in normalizing these relations … we are ready to help.” Responding to the comments … Read more
Under the proposed legislation, which was scrutinized at a Cabinet meeting in Rome on Friday and is set to be approved next week, search-and-rescue aircraft departing or landing in Italy must inform the authorities of any emergency immediately and follow their instructions. Failure to comply could lead to fines, seizure or confiscation of the aircraft. … Read more
Also facing sanctions are two prominent figures associated with far-right Georgian media outlet Alt-Info, which has called for attacks on pro-democracy crowds, journalists and the LGBTQ+ community. At the same time, the U.S. State Department confirmed it will impose visa restrictions on more than 60 Georgians and their families due to their complicity in “undermining … Read more
That comes days after the ruling Georgian Dream party threatened to dissolve the largest opposition grouping in parliament, the United National Movement (UNM) which was founded by former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. In addition to the UNM, the other pro-Western factions with seats in parliament face being shuttered, Kobakhidze said, because “in reality, all of … Read more
Some spectators, who carried Palestinian flags, reportedly booed the Israeli national anthem. Referring to the banner and the gestures, a Paris 2024 spokesperson said the organization “condemns these acts in the strongest terms” and added the Olympics “are a time for harmony and tolerance.” Israel sent 88 athletes to Paris to compete in 16 sports, … Read more
Not everyone was buying von der Leyen’s sphinx-like approach. The French Greens, for example, broke with their group to oppose von der Leyen, denouncing her for not detailing a “proactive pursuit of the Green Deal,” among other shortcomings. Green NGOs were similarly skeptical. Von der Leyen’s offerings “show there is no going back on climate,” … Read more
