In this edition we discuss how the Georgian authorities moved the country away from the European Union and what the Western Balkans think of the EU growth plan.
Our guests this week include Tinatin Akhvlediani, researcher at CEPS, Iliriana Gjoni, research analyst at Carnegie Europe and Teona Lavrelashvili, policy expert at the Wilfried Martens Center.
The panel reflected on the outcome of Georgia’s parliamentary elections, which prioritized the pro-Kremlin Georgian dream. Thousands of people took to the streets to protest what they called a rigged vote.
“The country that wants to become a candidate for the EU should not hold this type of election,” Teona Lavrelashvili told the panel.
“There was rigging on election day that no one knows how to prove,” said Titatin Akhvlediani.
Spanish MEP Antonio López-Istúriz White, who was observing the elections with a group of other MEPs, said he was “shocked” to hear the prime minister inform him of a plan to ban the opposition after the elections.
“This is something which, as you can understand, is shocking for the democrats,” he told Euronews.
Another major topic of discussion in Brussels this week: the reports on EU enlargement published on Wednesday, a few days after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s whirlwind tour of the Western Balkans.
The analyzes detail progress made in the ten countries awaiting EU membership – and it seems unlikely that the Commission will recommend opening accession negotiations with Georgia in the near future.
Are you looking at Brussels, my love? in the player above.
