Georgia has long been one of the most eager EU-aspirant countries in the European Neighborhood. It has, however, faced a significant setback as a result of an authoritarian turn under its current government – led by the Georgian Dream party. Putting forward twelve conditions related to democracy and the rule of law for the country, the EU only granted Georgia a membership “perspective” in 2022, even while Moldova and Ukraine received official candidate status. The European Commission (and subsequently the European Council) did eventually grant Georgia candidate status in 2023. However, progress on deoligarchization, political depolarization, media freedom, and rule of law matters remains to be seen – and may depend on whether the Georgian government is as committed to EU integration as the country’s population. We start our discussion with an assessment of Georgia’s EU’s integration process and then move on to other topics relevant to Georgia’s geopolitical orientation, including Russia’s role in its economy and security, the protracted conflicts with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Tbilisi’s relations with Beijing, as along with the country’s economic and transit potential (as well as bottlenecks), given its location at a geographical (and political) crossroads between Asia and Europe.

Guests:

Stefan Meister is Head of the Center for Order and Governance in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). From 2019 until 2021, he worked as director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s South Caucasus Office.

From 2017 to 2019, Meister was head of the Robert Bosch Center for Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia at DGAP. Before that, he was a senior policy fellow in the Wider Europe Team at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) in Berlin and London. In the 2015/16 term, Meister was a visiting fellow at the Transatlantic Academy in Washington, DC, where he wrote on Russian disinformation and propaganda. He has served as an election observer for the OSCE in post-Soviet countries several times and worked on conflict transformation and institution building in post-Soviet countries.

Stefan Meister is co-author of Geopolitics and Security: A New Strategy for the South Caucasus (KAS/DGAP/GIP, 2018), The Russia File (Brookings, 2018), Eastern Voices (Center for Transatlantic Relations/DGAP, 2017), and The Eastern Question (Brookings, 2016).

Tinatin Akhvlediani is a Research Fellow in the EU Foreign Policy Unit at the Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS), specializing in the EU’s enlargement, neighborhood, and trade policies. Her regional expertise is focused on the EU’s Eastern neighborhood and Ukraine. She has published extensively in these areas, actively engages in high-level policy debates, and frequently offers insights through major media outlets, including BBC, Euronews, and Bloomberg. In 2023, she was recognized among the most prominent and promising women in the EU and in 2020, she earned a place on Forbes Georgia’s “30 Under 30” list.

Tinatin Akhvlediani teaches European Economic Integration at the International School of Economics at Tbilisi State University (ISET). Additionally, she maintains affiliations with several major think tanks in Georgia and frequently provides expert commentary on major Georgian TV channels. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Warsaw.

Moderation:

Marylia Hushcha, Researcher and Project Manager at the IIP

The episode was recorded on 28 November 2023.