Will Georgia be Brussels’ new nightmare?

Brussels and Tbilisi are growing increasingly distant: the recent election victory of the Georgian Dream party, marked by irregularities denounced by the opposition and EU observers, has deepened the mistrust.

EU top diplomat Josep Borrell called to address electoral irregularities and implement reforms. Two laws have sparked significant debate in Brussels: the so-called "foreign agents" law, criticised as a tool to suppress freedom of civil society organizations, and a law limiting LGBTQ rights.

Many Brussels officials say Georgia is and will become a nightmare if the Georgian Dream party continues to adopt legislation that takes the country further away from its EU aspirations.

The EU has already frozen Georgia’s accession path and European Commission officials have stopped meetings with any high-ranking Georgian officials.  

They now want the ruling Georgian Dream party to withdraw the two controversial laws and implement nine steps of reform it has deemed conditional to the granting of EU candidate status.

The political crisis in Georgia also comes in the context of the launch this week of the EU's so-called enlargement package, an annual review assessing how far candidate countries have aligned themselves to EU standards.

Is Georgia set to be the EU's new nightmare?

Today Radio Schuman talks with Dionis Cenusa, political analyst at the Lithuanian based think tank Eastern Europe Studies Centre.

We also take a quick look at Macron's visit to Morocco and what it mean for EU policies on migration.

On the last part of the show, Radio Schuman explores which Europeans are most likely to live with their parents.

Today's Radio Schuman is hosted and produced by Maïa de la Baume, with journalist and production assistant Eleonora Vasques, audio editing by Georgios Leivaditis and Zacharia Vigneron. Music by Alexandre Jas.

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