A report adopted by the European Parliament reiterates its strong call for the EU and its Member States to introduce immediate and targeted personal sanctions against Bidzina Ivanishvili, his family members and his companies.

The European Parliament calls for the EU to freeze Ivanishvili’s assets and to cooperate on this matter with other jurisdictions, in particular the United Kingdom and the United States;

The Parliament “stresses that targeted personal sanctions imposed by the EU and its Member States against Bidzina Ivanishvili, key Georgian Dream leaders, judges, prosecutors and other officials responsible for the continuous democratic backsliding in Georgia, electoral fraud, serious human rights violations and the persecution of political opponents and activists, and against complicit owners of companies and media outlets linked to Georgian Dream, would be an important instrument against impunity; welcomes the fact that, in the absence of unanimity at EU level, an increasing number of Member States have introduced individual visa bans and other sanctions against Georgian officials; urges other Member States to follow suit;

Reiterates its strong call for the EU and its Member States to introduce immediate and targeted personal sanctions against Bidzina Ivanishvili, his family members and his companies and calls for the EU to freeze his assets and to cooperate on this matter with other jurisdictions, in particular the United Kingdom and the United States;

Condemns the systemic impunity of officials and institutions responsible for political repression, harassment of journalists and human rights defenders, and persecution of opposition figures; emphasises that the EU response to date has been inadequate and belated in view of the accelerating authoritarian consolidation in Georgia; urges the Council and the Member States to urgently adopt coordinated, EU-wide restrictive measures against all responsible politicians, officials and enablers, including the expansion of sanctions lists, comprehensive asset freezes and visa bans targeting those responsible for state capture, repression and regime-sponsored propaganda; urges the incoming Hungarian Government to lift the blockade imposed by its predecessor on EU-wide targeted sanctions against Ivanishvili and the broader Georgian Dream leadership; calls on the Council to explore collective mechanisms when unanimity is not possible in order to ensure an effective and unified EU response”, reads the report.