The European Commission has considered Georgia a nominal candidate for EU membership.

The European Commission has published its 2025 enlargement report. According to the document, Georgia has made no progress toward joining the European Union and its candidate status remains in name only.

As reported by Caucasian Knot, in October, the ruling Georgian Dream party filed a lawsuit in the Constitutional Court of Georgia demanding that three parties be declared unconstitutional and banned: the United National Movement, the Coalition for Change, and Strong Georgia - Lelo. On November 4, the Constitutional Court of Georgia accepted for consideration a lawsuit to dissolve opposition parties.

The Georgian government must demonstrate a firm commitment to changing course and returning to the path to EU membership, according to the communication on the EU enlargement policy 2025 published on November 4, InterpressNews reports.

"Georgia urgently needs to reverse the democratic backsliding and make a comprehensive and tangible effort to begin work on issues and reforms that will be developed with multi-party support and effective citizen participation, in line with the nine steps published for a candidate country, and that will fully respect the EU values and principles on which the EU is founded," the communication said.

Following the conclusions of the European Council in December 2024 that the actions of the Georgian government have effectively stalled the process accession, and given Georgia's current backsliding on core issues, the European Commission considers Georgia a candidate country only in name.

"At this stage, Georgia has no viable path to the EU unless conditions change dramatically. It is now a candidate country only in name," EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas said at a press conference in Brussels, according to TV Pirveli.

"As you know, we are also trying to impose sanctions on officials in Georgia who use violence against peaceful protesters and similar individuals. There is no agreement from all Member States yet, but we continue to work to find different ways to resolve these issues," Kallas noted.

"Georgian authorities—you are not leading your people toward the EU, you are leading your people away from the EU. If you are serious about the EU, then listen to your people and stop jailing opposition leaders, "Journalists, people who think differently than you. After that, we can talk," European Commissioner Marta Kos said at a briefing, responding to a question about whether additional measures against Georgia, including the ruling party, should be expected following this assessment.

In turn, Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili again responded with accusations against the European Commission's 2025 enlargement report and critical statements by the heads of EU institutions. According to him, the enlargement report is full of lies and hostile rhetoric. "The rollback of democracy is characteristic not of the Georgian government, but of EU institutions," Papuashvili stated.

"Blackmailing Georgia and pressuring Georgia will not work. We are not going to give up. Georgia will continue to prepare the country for EU membership. Not for the European Union that the current Brussels bureaucracy is stripping of its European content and leaving only as a union, but for the EU whose goal is to restore European values," Papuashvili said.

On October 4, municipal elections were held in all municipalities of Georgia. Candidates from the ruling Georgian Dream party were elected mayor in all 64 cities where elections were held, receiving 100% of the vote in 26 of them.

These elections will determine the political balance in Georgia for the coming years. The next major elections in the country are scheduled for 2028, so the current vote is essentially a key one for both the government and the opposition, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Municipal Elections in Georgia on October 4, 2025".

The "Caucasian Knot" is posting materials about the recent municipal elections and protests by opposition supporters on the thematic page "Georgia: Elections Amid Protests".