The Georgians don’t really want that much. They simply want to sip their wine, raise toasts to peace with Russia as they join the European Union. Therefore, when the ‘Georgian Dream’ (political party in Georgia) announced pulling the EU Membership talks out of the agenda until 2028, the Georgians rose to protest their ‘dream’.

The Georgians also believe a bit that their ‘dream’ would altogether turn away from the European Union if it were not for Article 78 of the Constitution. The article obliges all institutions around the country to do everything they can to join the EU and NATO. Moreover, this is not just the provision in the Constitution, but also the Georgians’ tender dream. It appears that the ‘Georgian Dream’ is against the Georgians’ dream… So, why is everything so complicated? After all, happiness seemed so possible and within reach… Whereas now mutual love has turned into mutual hatred.

Just as the ‘Georgian Dream’ announced their decision on the EU, the European Union also declared that it would not recognize the results of the Georgian elections on the very same day. As if this decision alone was not harsh enough, the European Parliament called on the European Commission to impose sanctions on Georgian leaders and reconsider the visa-free entry of Georgian citizens to the Schengen Area. The bridges are being burnt on both ends. But Georgia is still its old self, nothing has changed! The EU had opened its doors to the same old Georgia ruled by the ‘Georgian Dream’. And now its closing them to the same Georgia.

The only detail that has changed is that the European Union needed a Georgia that it could use in opposition to Russia. The ‘Georgian Dream’, on the other hand, demonstrated with two laws they passed through the parliament that they are not intending to hand over the reins of their country to Brussels. One may neither shut down the channels of interference in one’s internal affairs nor adopt laws prohibiting LGBT propaganda if one wishes to join the EU. This is tantamount to challenging the West, while all the West needed was a rather submissive Georgia.

Irakli Kobakhidze, the Georgian Prime Minister, was supposed to be seated between the French president and the German chancellor in alphabetical order at the European Political Community Summit in Budapest. Instead, he was seated next to another figure who is not on best terms with Brussels, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico. Luckily, Mr. Kobakhidze knows his way around Europe and is not the one to be confounded with such games. Regardless of the treatment he receives, he can voice his country’s interests to the West’s face without any hesitation.

So, what are Georgia’s interests? Firstly, if the country joins the EU, Georgia will have to adopt a visa regime with several countries, including Russia and Azerbaijan. Russian travellers alone produce business worth $4-4.5 billion every year for Georgian tourism. EU membership will also imply that Tbilisi won’t be able to trade freely with some countries. This will translate into a collapse of winemaking, one of the most lucrative fields of their economy, because 70% of the famous Georgian wines are exported to the Russian market. Europe is not yet, and most likely never will be, ready to raise their toasts with Georgian wine.

Considering all this, the Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Bochorishvili is absolutely right as she says: ‘At the moment, neither Georgia is ready to join the EU, nor the EU is ready to accept Georgia.’ The most the EU might need is to create a new flank against Russia, but ‘membership for a flank’ seems to be a rather bad deal and might end up costing Georgia dearly. One should be glad it is not working out, instead of flooding the streets, fighting the police, and being soaked under a water cannon on a cold winter night.

This whole thing shows that the ‘Georgian Dream’ appears to be more realistic, even wiser, than the Georgians’ dream. And it must be so. Sometimes, when one really gets close to one’s dream, one might just end up giving up on it. And it is time for the Georgian people to get to know Europe a bit closer.  

Vusal Mammadov is an editor in chief at AzVision.az

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