Euronews: Kobakhidze offers no way out of EU deadlock and blames Brussels
A day before the European Commission publishes its enlargement reports, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told the Euronews Enlargement Summit that his government remains committed to EU membership, but offered no concrete plan to restart talks. He said Georgia would join negotiations immediately if the Commission opened them. He blamed the Commission for the deadlock, accusing it of bias and 'blackmail' and calling its assessment of Georgia false. He refused to repeal the foreign-influence transparency and NGO registry laws, saying repeal would violate Georgia's sovereignty, and attributed the protests to the opposition and foreign-funded groups. Euronews notes that the European Council endorsed the Commission's assessments and that polls show nearly 80% of Georgians support EU membership.