“Today, it has once again become clear who actually froze relations between Georgia and the European Union. Many have manipulated dates, but the European Council’s June decision explicitly states that Brussels itself froze relations between the two sides,” said Levan Makhashvili, Chairman of the Parliament’s Committee on European Integration, speaking to journalists.

He made this comment in response to information published by Rustavi 2, which stated that the EU had made a decision to suspend Georgia’s EU accession five months before the statement by Irakli Kobakhidze.

According to Makhashvili, Kobakhidze’s statement on November 28 had only one purpose: to prevent the issue of Georgia’s EU accession from being used for political blackmail.

“Over the past year, we have heard numerous manipulations regarding the November 28 statement. This is not the first time, but today it has again become clear who actually froze relations between Georgia and the EU. Many manipulated the dates, but the European Council’s June decision directly shows that Brussels itself froze relations between the two sides. That says it all. There was an attempt by foreigners to use the November 28 statement as a reason, but everyone can see who was actually the initiator and source of freezing these relations – and Georgia had nothing to do with it. The only purpose of the November 28 statement was to prevent the accession issue from being used for blackmail. The real source, author, initiator, and first mover was the European Council, which froze these relations about a year and a half ago. Everything else afterward is just blaming the Georgian government, perhaps to shift responsibility elsewhere,” Makhashvili said.

For reference, according to Rustavi 2, on November 5, 2025, EU Ambassador Pavel Herczynski sent a letter to the Deputy Minister of the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stating that “Georgia’s participation in EU-funded regional programs on security and organized crime has been suspended.”

The letter also stated: “Considering the specific circumstances in Georgia and the conclusions of the European Council on June 27, 2024, which effectively halted Georgia’s EU accession process, we inform you that Georgia’s participation in subsequent EU-funded regional projects on security and organized crime has been suspended.”