Former Georgian Ambassador to Germany Elguja Khokrishvili has warned that Georgia risks losing its place among the EU's front-runners and could find itself aligned with Armenia in a delayed wave of EU enlargement, potentially pushed back by decades.
Speaking on BMGTV, Khokrishvili emphasized that Georgia, once the leading country of the Associated Trio (with Ukraine and Moldova), is now in danger of falling behind due to democratic backsliding.
“If we fall behind the Associated Trio now, the window of opportunity will close. In the next enlargement wave, we will find ourselves in the same context as Armenia, but no one knows how many decades away that could be,” he stated.
Khokrishvili stressed that any consequences from Brussels, whether on visa liberalization or candidacy status, will not be the fault of the EU, but of the ruling Georgian Dream party.
“This is not punishment by Europe. This is the result of the Georgian Dream violating the agreement made with the EU,” he said.
Visa-free travel, he emphasized, was based on political trust between Georgia and the EU, built on commitments to democracy, free elections, rule of law, independent media, and an impartial judiciary, all of which he says have been systematically violated in recent years.
Khokrishvili pointed to the Eastern Partnership Index 2025, which shows Georgia now lags behind Armenia in areas such as democratic governance, rule of law, state accountability, and the fight against corruption.
“We are losing ground not just to Moldova and Ukraine, but even to Armenia. In democratic rights, elections, pluralism, Georgia is in serious decline,” he warned.
While there has been modest technical progress in sectors like transport and energy, Khokrishvili says these are nowhere near enough to compensate for the democratic erosion.
Khokrishvili cautioned that Georgia may become the first EU candidate to lose its status if backsliding continues.
“The European Commission’s enlargement report in the fall will evaluate not only progress on the 9 conditions but also overall commitment to EU values. If the trend continues, the suspension process will begin and it will be nearly impossible to reverse without a change in government,” he said.
In his view, Georgian Dream’s resistance to reform stems from a fear of losing power:
“For this government, democratic reforms are equal to political suicide. That’s why integration cannot move forward under their leadership.”
