On November 7, TV company Imedi (1; 2), Rustavi 2, Georgian Public Broadcaster, and several other media outlets (Mkhare, InfoPostalioni, Exclusive News, SULinfo, Georgian Best News) published a letter from the EU Ambassador to Georgia, Pawel Herczynski, in which he informs the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Georgia’s participation in several regional projects has been suspended. According to these media outlets, the key part of the letter is Herczynski’s “admission” that the European Union had already suspended Georgia’s accession process on June 27, 2024, based on the European Council’s conclusions. According to the disseminated reports, this “scandalous letter” supposedly “turns upside down” the EU’s campaign claiming that it was Georgia itself that suspended the accession process. The outlets assert that five months before Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s statement, the EU had already made the decision to freeze the process.
The issue was also commented on by Nino Tsilosani, Deputy Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, who said that the letter is scandalous because the EU Ambassador confirms that the suspension of Georgia’s accession process was not caused by Kobakhidze’s statement but had been decided by the EU five months earlier.
In reality, information about Pawel Herczynski’s letter is being spread manipulatively. The June 27, 2024 conclusions referred to in the letter are publicly available. Herczynski himself has repeatedly made public statements – both before and after Kobakhidze’s remarks – saying that Georgia’s EU accession process had been halted. The content of the letter dated November 5 does not contradict the EU’s previously declared position. Public statements and conclusions make it clear that the suspension of the process was a result of steps taken by the Georgian government and that if the country changes course, the EU is ready to support Georgia’s rapprochement with the Union.
- What did the June 27, 2024 conclusions say?
The letter dated November 5, 2025, which, according to media reports, Herczynski sent to Deputy Foreign Minister Giorgi Zurabashvili, states that Georgia’s participation in several EU-funded regional programs related to security and combating organized crime has been suspended.
Media outlets focus on the part of the letter referencing the June 27, 2024 European Council conclusions. According to the letter, these conclusions effectively caused the de facto suspension of Georgia’s EU accession process. As Imedi wrote, the letter “turns upside down the entire hysterical campaign against Georgia, in which the EU had been claiming that it was Georgia itself that refused to start accession talks.”
However, the media are spreading the contents of the letter manipulatively, claiming that the information it contains contradicts the EU’s earlier position.
The letter refers to the European Council conclusions of June 27, 2024. The conclusions discuss several key issues important to the EU. Several paragraphs in the document are dedicated to Georgia, noting that the Georgian government is not implementing the European Commission’s recommendations and that its current course effectively halts the country’s EU accession.
European Council Conclusions (27/06/2024): “The European Council expresses its serious concern regarding recent developments in Georgia. In particular, the law adopted on transparency of foreign influence represents backsliding on the steps set out in the Commission’s recommendation for candidate status. The European Council calls on Georgia’s authorities to clarify their intentions by reversing the current course of action, which jeopardizes Georgia’s EU path, de facto leading to a halt of the accession process.”
The subsequent paragraphs call on the Georgian government to stop the growing number of incidents of intimidation, threats, and physical assaults against civil society representatives, political leaders, civic activists, and journalists. The conclusions also call for the October elections to be conducted openly and fairly. The final section on Georgia reiterates the EU’s support for Georgia’s territorial integrity and readiness to assist the Georgian people on their European path.
Thus, the document clearly explains that the slowdown on Georgia’s EU path was not due to the political will of EU leaders but rather to the Georgian government’s actions and that the government can reverse this decision and return to the path of integration. The reports spread in Georgian media create the impression that this information first became known through Herczynski’s letter, while in fact the document has been publicly available since its adoption.
Beyond this document, Pawel Herczynski himself has spoken about the consequences of the Georgian government’s actions and the EU’s position. As early as June 19, 2024, i.e., before the European Council meeting, he stated that the adoption of the “foreign agents” law had frozen Georgia’s European integration.
On July 9, 2024, i.e., after the European Council conclusions were published, Herczynski once again said that Georgia’s accession process had been suspended:
Pawel Herczynski (09/07/2024): “EU leaders are puzzled by the intentions of Georgia’s current government. The Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence is a clear backslide on nine steps, and the anti-Western, anti-European rhetoric is fully incompatible with the stated aim of joining the European Union… So, unfortunately, at this time, Georgia’s EU accession process has been put on hold.”
In the same statement, Herczynski confirmed that the EU had frozen €30 million allocated from the European Peace Facility (EPF) for Georgia’s Ministry of Defense and warned that further measures might follow if the situation deteriorated. It is also worth noting that in this statement, Herczynski reiterated the EU’s readiness to help the Georgian government if it is genuinely interested in EU membership.
On November 29, 2024, referring to the October elections and Prime Minister Kobakhidze’s statement from November 28 that EU accession talks would not be on the agenda until 2028, Herczynski said that he had expected the elections to bring new momentum to EU-Georgia relations, but instead, serious violations were reported, and the Prime Minister’s statement was regrettable.
Pawel Herczynski (29/11/2024): “We sincerely hoped that the elections would give a new impetus when it comes to the EU-Georgia relationships, but instead there were serious irregularities, as international observers noted. The announcement of yesterday that Georgia is stopping its EU accession efforts for the next four years, I think, is really, really regrettable.”
Thus, both the EU documents and Herczynski’s statements made at various times show that the EU has consistently held the ruling Georgian Dream party responsible for the slowdown and de facto suspension of the accession process. The letter dated November 5 once again reaffirms this position, while Georgia’s exclusion from regional programs is part of the measures Herczynski had already mentioned back in June 2024.
The reports circulated by Georgian media outlets were also addressed by Anitta Hipper, the European Commission spokesperson for foreign and security affairs. During a briefing, she called it an attempt to divert attention from the facts and said that the June 2024 conclusions were a wake-up call for the government to change its course. Instead, Hipper said, destructive actions against democracy continued, which were reflected in later assessments and in the enlargement report released last week, and Georgia today is an EU candidate country only nominally.
