On October 31 Georgia's Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili held a briefing and spoke including on the European Commission’s recent enlargement report.

Papuashvili emphasized that “recently popularized terms” such as “halting EU integration” or “freezing” the process are “only political statements” and that the fact that the EC worked on Georgia’s enlargement report and gave a recommendation is proof in itself that EU integration has not been stopped and “cannot be stopped”.

When asked, "Would you agree with Papuashvili?", a Commission spokesperson told the Accent the following:

"The granting of candidate status has not been followed by sufficient political commitment of the authorities to implement the necessary reforms. On the contrary, there have been significant negative developments such as the adoption of the Law on transparency of foreign influence and the legislative package on “family values and the protection of minors”. Those laws should be repealed.

• As a consequence, the accession process has de facto been halted.

• The country also made insignificant progress on the implementation of the nine steps set by the Commission’s 2023 Enlargement Communication.

• Authorities must ensure that attacks against media outlets, opposition parties and civil society are properly investigated, while reforms towards strengthening the rule of law, tackling high-level corruption, and eliminating oligarchic influence, should be undertaken."

At the same time, a Commission spokesperson pointed to the example of Türkiye, which is also covered by the 2024 enlargement reports, although the spokesperson noted that "accession negotiations with the country remain at a standstill since 2018, in line with the decision of the Council."