Georgia’s Foreign Policy and Its Alignment with the EU CFSP

Georgia’s recent foreign policy strategy is characterized with notable deviations from the country’s long-stated EU aspiration and alignment to the West. The Georgian Dream’s government has made a series of decisions that strengthens Georgia’s dependence on Russia and may just undermine Europeanization efforts. Furthermore, the newly signed Strategic Partnership agreement between Georgia and China raised questions about Georgia’s foreign policy vector. While pragmatic explanations have been used to back the controversial decisions toward Russia and China by the government of Georgia, it may deepen authoritarian tendencies in the country.Georgia’s EU integration is based on AA/DCFTA, with an emphasis on CFSP alignment, which is the core document determining the country’s advancement on the EU membership aspirations. While the EU accelerated the integration process for the Associated Trio last year, Tbilisi’s lukewarm support to Ukraine in its war against Russia and the recent controversial foreign policy posture has called into question Georgia’s alignment with the EU CFSP. According to the EU Council 2023 report, Georgia aligned itself with only 51 declarations out of 107, registering a further drop from the previous year (48%) to 31%.
At the request of the Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP), a selection of experts from different countries responded to the following questions:

1. What are the risks of strengthening ties with Russia and China on the way of the EU integration?
2. What Georgia should do to be in line with the EU CFSP and to improve its alignment rate with the EU foreign policy?

Expert Comment #24 | September 2023

This publication was produced with the financial support of the Open Society Georgia Foundation. Its contents are the sole responsibility of authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Open Society Georgia Foundation and the Georgian institute of politics.