Disinformation Claims That Starting EU Negotiations in 2028 Is Mandated by Law

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On December 9, the Facebook page Civil Alternative (Salte) published the program “Hour of Politics with Tamta Karchava,” which discussed recent political developments, including the initiation of accession negotiations with the European Union. According to Tamta Karchava, the author of the program, the law envisages the initiation of accession negotiations with the EU in 2028: “Negotiations are to start in 2028, as personally explained by Irakli Kobakhidze. [Opposition] leaders are well aware of this. I am not saying that every participant in the protest rally needs to know these details – what the legislation requires and how it is provided in the law. Nevertheless, we see what is happening on Rustaveli [Avenue].”

ევროკავშირთან მოლაპარაკებების დაწყება

The claim that the law envisages the start of accession negotiations with the European Union in 2028 is false. There is no law specifying a particular date for the start of the negotiations. The process of opening the accession negotiations depends on the country’s progress and implemented reforms.

On November 28, 2024, Irakli Kobakhidze stated that the Georgian government refuses to open negotiations with the EU before 2028. According to him, Georgia’s national goal is to become an EU member state in 2030, and the government will spare no effort to achieve this. However, Kobakhidze claimed that the EU grossly interfered in Georgia’s 2024 elections and used grants and loans to blackmail Georgia. In a statement by the Georgian Dream titled “Irakli Kobakhidze’s Address to the European Union,” it is additionally noted that it takes only about a year and a half to two years from the opening of the negotiations to achieve EU membership, and since the EU does not plan expansion until 2030, it has been decided not to put the issue of opening negotiations with the EU on the agenda until the end of 2028.

  • Is there a law regulating the date for opening negotiations with the European Union?

Georgia’s integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures is stipulated by the Constitution of Georgia, but no specific timeframe is mentioned. There is no agreement between the European Union and Georgia that sets a date for the opening of the negotiations.

According to Article 78 of the Georgian Constitution: “The constitutional bodies shall take all measures within the scope of their competences to ensure the full integration of Georgia into the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.”

In 2023, Georgia obtained candidate status for EU membership. The recommendation to grant the EU candidate status to Georgia was conditional on nine key steps that Georgia was required to take.

On October 30, 2024, the European Union’s Enlargement Report was published. According to the European Commission’s assessment, after obtaining the candidate status, the government of Georgia did not take the necessary steps to implement required reforms. The European Commission called on Georgia to return to the implementation of the nine priorities. If the government continues with actions that threaten European integration, the Commission will be unable to issue a recommendation to start negotiations with Georgia.

EU Ambassador to Georgia Pawel Herczynski also noted that regarding the implementation of reforms in Georgia, the EU’s 2024 Enlargement Report shows either minimal progress in some areas or regress. As of now, EU leaders have decided to suspend Georgia’s EU accession process, and, as the ambassador said, this process will be suspended as long as Georgia continues to distance itself from EU values and principles.

  • The EU Accession Process

The European Union has never committed itself to a specific timeline for starting negotiations or granting membership to any country. EU accession is a highly complex process that requires strict criteria to be met. Timelines vary for each candidate country and depend on how aligned the country’s progress is with EU standards and regulations. From the start of negotiations, the European Commission monitors the candidate country and regularly informs the European Parliament of the country’s progress through reports. After negotiations are concluded if the Commission recommends membership, an accession treaty is drafted, which must then be approved by other bodies, however, it is also possible that no such recommendation is issued, even after negotiations.

The time frame between obtaining candidate status and starting accession negotiations varies and depends on the country.

  1. Croatia received candidate status in June 2004 and began negotiations in October 2005, i.e., 16 months later.
  2. Bulgaria and Romania were granted candidate status in December 1999, and negotiations began in February 2000, i.e., in two months.
  3. Turkey received candidate status in 1999 but started negotiations six years later, in 2005. However, Turkey is still not a member of the EU as it has not fulfilled the necessary recommendations.
  4. Ukraine obtained candidate status on June 23, 2022. In November 2023, the European Commission recommended starting negotiations. Official negotiations began on June 25, 2024, that is, 18 months later.
  5. Moldova also obtained candidate status in June 2022, and like Ukraine, started negotiations on June 25, 2024.

As regards the timeframe for full membership, Irakli Kobakhidze noted that it typically takes one to two years from the start of negotiations to full accession. Sweden, Finland, and Austria Sweden, Finland, and Austria were the fastest to complete the procedures from negotiation to full membership (two years). However, it is worth mentioning that for countries like Bulgaria, Romania, and Croatia, the process took from seven to eight years, indicating that the timeline is individual for each country.

Myth Detector spoke with political scientist Kaha Gogolashvili regarding the EU accession process and timelines. Gogolashvili confirmed that no law specifies a particular timeline for the start of negotiations with the European Union.

Kaha Gogolashvili, Political Scientist: “No law specifies when negotiations should begin. This is not up to Georgia to decide; this decision is made by the Council of the European Union or the European Council based on a proposal from the European Commission. They assess whether the country is ready to start negotiations. A country’s preparedness is determined by evaluating specific criteria, namely, the Copenhagen criteria, which the EU adopted at the EU Summit in 1993 and measure a country’s preparedness for EU membership. Once a country becomes a candidate, the European Commission annually reviews its institutional development. This year’s report explicitly stated that Georgia is not ready to start negotiations, while Moldova and Ukraine are, and the European Commission has already proposed concrete steps for them.”

Thus, it has never been the case in EU practice that it has set specific timelines for candidate countries to begin negotiations. The timeline for accession is also not one to two years, as Kobakhidze claimed, and accession is entirely dependent on a country’s progress. Moreover, no amendments have been made to Georgian legislation regarding EU integration.


Mari Megrelishvili

Myth Detector Lab


The article has been written in the framework of Facebook’s fact-checking program. You can read more about the restrictions that Facebook may impose based on this article via this link. You can find information about appealing or editing our assessment via this link.

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Topic: Politics
Violation: Disinformation
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