Hungary and Slovakia block EU sanctions against Georgian leaders

Hungary and Slovakia – both with populist, pro-Russian leaders – on December 16 blocked a proposed European Union sanctions package against top Georgian officials over the Georgian government’s brutal crackdown on pro-Western protesters in recent weeks.

EU foreign ministers, who plan to hold a summit in Brussels on December 19, have moved forward, but only on a plan to suspend visa liberalization for diplomatic passport holders of the South Caucasian country.

Actions by Hungary and Slovakia expected on December 16 prevent the implementation of a series of measures against Georgian officials, which would include a visa ban and asset freeze. The move would require unanimous support from the 27-member bloc.

However, suspending the visa liberalization procedure for holders of Georgian diplomatic passports only requires a majority vote, i.e. 55 percent of the member states, which make up 65 percent of the total EU population.

The European Commission has already started planning the suspension, and a proposal could be sent to member states as early as this week.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico oppose sanctions against the Kremlin for its war against Ukraine and express support for the Georgian government led by the Georgian Dream party.

The EU has never imposed sanctions on Georgian politicians, but this year it froze more than 100 million euros ($105.1 million) in EU funds going to Georgia and suspended EU accession talks with Tbilisi.

Earlier in the day, the head of the EU’s foreign policy department, Kaya Kallas, said that the bloc had drawn up a list of Georgian leaders against whom sanctions would be applied after the brutal crackdown on protesters outraged by the ruling Georgian Dream party’s decision to postpone the Caucasian country’s EU accession negotiations.

“We have proposed a list for sanctions against these people who…use force and violence against the opposition..But everyone must agree to this list, and we have not yet reached that…All the events that we are currently observing in Georgia are not in the direction where the candidate countries should be,” Callas told reporters.

Western leaders are alarmed by what they say is an increasingly violent crackdown on protesters and a growing pro-Russian bias in the government led by the Georgian Dream party.