Borrell denounces Georgia's 'Russian law' and demands its withdrawal

The statement came 24 hours after the law passed its third reading in the Georgian parliament.

Transcript

00:00 The EU says Georgia must revoke its so-called foreign agents law or risk its status as a

00:07 candidate country for EU membership. In a statement by the EU's foreign policy chief

00:11 Josep Borrell on behalf of the European Commission, it says the adoption of this law negatively

00:16 impacts Georgia's progress on the EU path. The choice to the way forward is in Georgia's

00:21 hands. So far no concrete measures have been taken by Brussels.

00:26 "I wouldn't speak about suspension, about measures, about sanctions now. First, the

00:33 European Union spoke very clearly what we expect. We expect the Georgian ruling majority

00:39 to withdraw the law. It was now adopted but it needs to be withdrawn because it is a huge

00:43 obstacle on the accession path. If they don't do it, if they continue in the course of action

00:47 we have seen over the past few weeks, then the European Union will decide other measures.

00:53 At this stage, as I said, we need to discuss with the member states to see what member

00:58 states find the most appropriate."

00:59 However, the statement from the European Commission arrived conspicuously late, almost 24 hours

01:06 after the Georgian government passed the bill, widely considered to be a Kremlin tool aimed

01:11 at destroying civil society and independent media. This is due to the fact that two member

01:16 states, Hungary and Slovakia, refused to join in a statement from all EU 27 countries condemning

01:23 the ruling party Georgian Dream's actions. Yet the majority of EU countries and several

01:30 MEPs have called on the EU's executive to act now and take measures, including the freezing

01:37 of accession negotiations with Georgia.

01:39 "I don't think it's too much. I think we have to send a very clear message. We have to withdraw

01:43 financial assistance for EU finance projects, especially what comes to the government. We

01:49 have to keep projects with the civic society, definitely. But I believe we have to send

01:56 a very formal and probably painful, politically for ruling coalition message in order to stop

02:03 them at this stage."

02:05 Despite widespread condemnation from EU member states and the EU institutions against the

02:10 Georgian government for adopting this foreign agents bill, it's unclear yet whether Brussels

02:15 will revoke or suspend Georgia's status as a candidate country. But what is clear is

02:20 that in effect it will stymie that ambition, because no country could become an EU member

02:25 state with a law like this in place. Shona Murray, Your News, Brussels.

02:30 (whooshing)