TBILISI (Dispatches) -- In a surprise U-turn, the government of Georgia has applied for EU membership just days after declaring it would not accelerate its application.
A day after Ukraine made its formal application for EU membership on Wednesday, Georgia responded to the pressure of overwhelming public protests and made its own request, along with Moldova.
In 2008 Vladimir Putin ordered a Russian military campaign in Georgia that resulted in the Russian annexation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which continues to this day.
By signing the formal application for EU membership on Thursday, the Georgian prime minister, Irakli Garibashvili, moved up the original timetable, under which Georgia’s application for EU membership would start in 2024.
Only on Tuesday, the chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Irakli Kobakhidze, had told journalists that speeding up Georgia’s application to the EU “could be counterproductive because we have to satisfy certain terms over the [next] two years”.
The Georgian government had also previously announced that it would not join international voices calling for sanctions against Russia. “I want to state clearly and unambiguously, considering our national interests and interests of the people, Georgia does not plan to participate in the financial and economic sanctions, as this would only damage our country and populace more,” Garibashvili said last week.
Since then, the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, has seen nightly protests, with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets in a show of solidarity with Ukraine and to call for Garibashvili’s resignation over what they consider a weak response to Russian aggression.
The Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, has accused Georgia of “holding an immoral position regarding sanctions” and recalled the Ukrainian ambassador to Georgia.
On Saturday, Mikhail Fishman, a prominent journalist at Russia’s independent TV Rain, which was taken off air by the Kremlin last week, was denied entry to Georgia even though his family and other Russians on his flight were reportedly allowed in.
Thursday’s announcement marks a volte-face, with Kobakhidze calling for EU bodies to review Georgia’s EU application “in an emergency manner and to make the decision to grant Georgia the status of an EU membership candidate”.
While the EU petition will appease some of the protesters, many observers are wary of interpreting the government’s U-turn as a sign of fully abandoning Russia and turning toward the west. Applying for EU membership is a lengthy process with no guarantee of success, and could fly under Putin’s radar, allowing Georgia in effect to hedge its bets.
“The Georgian government is playing realpolitik. They don’t know what the outcome of this war will be. And anyway, the Kremlin is busy now,” Kornely Kakachia, head of the think tank Georgian Institute of Politics.