EU Enlargement Report: Georgia a Candidate 'in Name Only,' Accession De Facto Halted and Visa-Free Travel at Risk
Brussels — The European Commission published its 2026 enlargement package on November 4, and its assessment of Georgia was the harshest in the set: the report found “continued backsliding” on democracy and fundamental rights, concluded that Georgia remains a candidate country “in name only,” said its accession process is de facto halted, and warned that the country continues to forego the benefits that candidate status and the pre-accession process bring.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said at the presentation that Georgia was “on a collision course with the EU over democratic backsliding and fundamental rights” and that its accession “remains de facto halted.” She said EU foreign ministers would hold a deeper discussion on Georgia in January on how best to support the Georgian people and their aspirations for European membership, and that it was too early to say whether she would propose new sanctions on the government.
Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said the situation in Georgia had deteriorated further, with serious democratic backsliding, a rapid erosion of the rule of law and a curtailment of fundamental rights. She added that the European path remains open if the authorities change course and recommit to democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights.
Visa-free travel was the report's other pressure point. The Commission said Georgian authorities had not addressed the democracy and fundamental-rights concerns that led to the suspension of visa-free travel for holders of Georgian diplomatic and service passports, “putting at risk the visa-free regime more generally.” That partial suspension took effect in March of this year for one year. The report also found that Georgia had implemented nearly none of the recommendations in the previous Visa Suspension Mechanism report, that an enhanced dialogue with a Georgian delegation in June had produced no progress, and that Georgia's alignment with the EU's common foreign and security policy had fallen to 38 percent.
Georgia was granted EU candidate status in 2023. GSM reported the same day on the package's accession roadmaps for Ukraine, Moldova, Montenegro and Albania; Georgia was the candidate country singled out for the report's strongest criticism.
Source: European Commission
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于布鲁塞尔的欧盟委员会总部贝尔莱蒙大楼。照片：Ank Kumar，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Berlaymont building, headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels. Photo by Ank Kumar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
