Draft European Parliament Resolution Calls for Sanctions on Georgian Officials
By Messenger Staff
Thursday, October 8, 2026
A draft European Parliament resolution calls on the European Union and its member states to impose sanctions on Georgian Dream Honorary Chairman Bidzina Ivanishvili, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze.
The European Parliament is set to vote on the draft resolution on October 8. The resolution concerns what it describes as attempts by the ruling Georgian Dream party to ban opposition parties and says the situation in Georgia is progressively deteriorating, with further backsliding in democracy, media freedom, human rights and the rule of law.
According to the draft, the actions of the Georgian Dream authorities are increasingly incompatible with Georgia's international obligations and commitments, including the Copenhagen criteria.
The document says that in November 2025, the Georgian Dream-controlled parliament filed a constitutional claim seeking to ban the United National Movement, Coalition for Change and Strong Georgia-Lelo. The Federalists were later added to the lawsuit, while For Georgia, described in the draft as the only opposition party still represented in parliament, was added in September 2026.
The draft says the proceedings have effectively eliminated legitimate political opposition and form part of a broader Georgian Dream strategy aimed at turning Georgia into a one-party regime by eliminating political pluralism. It compares this alleged approach with Russia and Belarus and says it serves the Kremlin's objective of keeping Georgia outside the European and Euro-Atlantic space.
The European Parliament also raises concerns about the independence of the Constitutional Court, citing the appointment of new judges in September 2026 and saying this raises serious doubts about their independence in the proceedings concerning the opposition parties.
The draft also refers to the closure of the Tbilisi offices of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in September 2026. It says the foundations were forced to close after Georgian authorities rejected their project funding applications under the Law on Grants.
The document further says that numerous journalists reporting on the government's crackdown on the opposition and civil society have been imprisoned.
Based on these concerns, the draft resolution calls for EU and member-state sanctions against Ivanishvili, Kobakhidze, Papuashvili and Kaladze.
