The ruling Georgian Dream party said on Thursday that the country would suspend talks on European Union accession until 2028, while also refusing budgetary grants from Brussels, effectively halting its application to join the bloc for the next four years. 

Thousands of protesters gathered in the capital, Tbilisi, in the evening, while the country's outgoing president accused the government of declaring "war" on its own people with the move. 

EU accused of 'blackmail' and stoking 'revolution' 

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze's government and the EU have been at odds for months for a number of reasons, but this intensified in the wake of disputed elections in late October. 

The opposition in Georgia alleges fraud and interference in the vote and is boycotting the new parliament. The EU has called for independent investigations. 

The government in Tblisi and the country's election commission, meanwhile, say the vote was free and fair. 

Georgian Dream on Thursday accused some EU leaders of using the prospect of accession talks to "blackmail" Georgia and to "organize a revolution in the country." 

"We have decided not to put the issue of opening negotiations with the European Union on the agenda until the end of 2028," the party said. "Also, we refuse any budgetary grant from the European Union until the end of 2028." 

The EU had already declared the country's accession process temporarily suspended.

Ruling party walking tightrope on Europe

The goal of joining the EU is written into Georgia's constitution and the ruling party says it still stands by reaching this ambition eventually. 

Surveys suggest widespread public support for doing so, and also widespread distrust of Russia after the two countries' brief war in 2008. 

Georgian Dream has indicated it's sticking to the long-term goal, while entering into multiple feuds with Brussels in the short term — on issues including a law about NGOs with foreign funding registering as foreign agents, restrictions for the LGBT+ community, and now last month's elections. 

The party says it is not pro-Russian, but has ushered in a slight rapprochement with Moscow — with which it has had no formal diplomatic ties since 2008 — on some issues.

President calls move a declaration of war on people

Pro-EU President Salome Zourabichvili, whose role is largely ceremonial in Georgia, said that with Thursday's announcement, the ruling party had "declared not peace, but war against its own people, its past and future." 

Zourabichvili's term ends in December, and Georgian Dream this week nominated a former lawmaker and footballer with hardline anti-Western views to replace her. 

Giorgi Vashadze, a prominent opposition leader, wrote on Facebook that "the self-proclaimed, illegitimate government has already legally signed the betrayal of Georgia and the Georgian people." 

The EU originally gave Georgia candidate status in December 2023.

msh/nm (AFP, AP, Reuters)