the cost of non-europe

Membership in the EU is voluntary and is based on the free choice of each acceding country. Since its establishment - first as the European Communities and later as the European Union - 22 European states have chosen to become members, each doing so willingly and through established accession procedures. At the same time, as the Union evolved and the unity among members - grounded in the shared values - grew stronger, the democratic and economic standards for accession became not only more numerous, but also increasingly demanding. 

Following the restoration of its independence, Georgia gradually began to assert its place on the political map of the world, particularly within Europe. With experience, we came to understand that the only sustainable guarantee of Georgia’s independence lies in its transformation into a developed, democratic state. The experience of other nations points to the same conclusion: only democracy can simultaneously ensure freedom and stability, economic development and social welfare, national security and the protection of civil rights.

Geography plays a major role in the development of every nation. Countries neighbouring established democracies tend to progress towards democracy more rapidly themselves. Georgia used to be distinctive in that, despite existing in a largely non-democratic environment and frequently facing threats to its very survival, it chose a different path - declaring that its future belonged with the free and democratic world.

That choice gradually opened a path to development that had been closed to Georgia for centuries, transforming the country from a former Soviet republic in the South Caucasus and Central Asia region into a young Eastern European democracy.

The importance of freedom and democracy was already well understood in 1918-1921, when Georgia adopted one of the most democratic constitutions of its time, elected a democratic parliament, and began building a social-democratic state. Even then, Georgia’s independence, its democracy, and close ties with the rest of Europe were seen as deeply interconnected and mutually reinforcing aspirations.

A Georgia cut off from Europe risks sliding back, irreversibly, into Russian domination, autocracy, authoritarianism, repression, and insecurity. The turbulent years of the 1990s - when Georgia was politically isolated from the West and vulnerable to Russian pressure - remain a stark reminder of what it means for Georgia to stand alone, and of what awaits the country when it is detached from the rest of Europe.

Naturally, the European Union is also attractive because of its social and economic standards. A country can, of course, accumulate wealth without being democratic. Yet the lives of citizens in democratic and non-democratic wealthy states differ profoundly. In democratic countries, a significant share of national wealth is invested in public goods and services - solid roads, infrastructure, education, pensions, reliable healthcare, agriculture, and more. In non-democratic systems, state resources rarely serve public goods and even greater wealth often fails to reach ordinary citizens, and hardly anyone knows where that wealth ultimately goes.

Georgia is not a country blessed with vast natural resources. Its greatest resource is its people, together with the historical aspiration that has driven the nation toward freedom, democracy, and development. For Georgia, these values are inseparable from Europe and, therefore, from the European Union.

It is true that several highly developed European countries, such as Norway and Switzerland, are not members of the EU. Nevertheless, the EU today is the primary political expression of Europe, reflecting what the vast majority of European nations have built together over decades in pursuit of peace, freedom, and prosperity. Therefore, for Georgia, as a country deeply rooted in Europe’s cultural and civilisational heritage, the aspiration to join the EU was therefore both natural and historically consistent.

Georgia’s aspirations for joining the European Union are rooted in the same ideals that bind EU member states together: peace, freedom, and prosperity - the very principles upon which the European Union was founded. For Georgia, EU membership means accessible, advanced healthcare, high-quality education, the reduction of poverty, the right to dignified work, and a society in which people do not fear old age because their pensions are too small for their survival.

It means building a Georgia where political parties and individuals can no longer own the state; where the state does not become synonymous with a single political party; and where theatres, museums, research institutes, and universities - funded by citizens themselves - are not put in the service of partisan ambitions.

It means a country where every citizen feels protected and where the courts deliver justice impartially, whether judging those in power or ordinary people. Above all, it means a democracy in which victory and defeat in free elections do not become the basis for a feud - where those who lose power, do not fear persecution and those who win, do not seek revenge. The recent, yet unfulfilled, recommendations of the European Union were aimed precisely at creating the institutional foundations necessary for the development of such a state.

The development of such a state has always been the goal of Georgia’s European integration. In 2014, the Association Agreement formally recognised Georgia as an Eastern European country, symbolically paving the way for an unprecedented rapprochement with the European Union. In 2023, despite unsuccessful attempts to introduce anti-democratic legislation aimed mostly against the EU, all EU member states reaffirmed that Georgia belongs to the European family. Georgia’s path toward EU membership could have continued uninterrupted had the government not refused to implement the well-known EU recommendations aimed at strengthening democratic governance. 

Twenty-two countries have already completed this journey before us, and today eight more - including the Western Balkan states - are moving along the same path. Today, Montenegro and Albania are considered the leading candidates for the next wave of EU enlargement, while accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova are expected to begin by the end of the year. Under the EU enlargement framework, candidate countries receive recommendations for implementing political, economic, and legal reforms necessary for membership. To facilitate this process, the EU allocates billions of euros through its seven-year budget cycles via instruments such as the IPA, the Growth Pact, the Reform and Growth Facility, the Ukraine Facility, and others.

In recent months, most candidate countries have also gained access to tangible benefits, including free roaming across EU member states and fee-free euro transfers between the EU and candidate countries. Unfortunately, despite having the opportunity to advance toward these benefits, Georgia has remained outside many of these developments due to the suspension of its European integration.

Above all, the European Union is a project founded in the service of peace. The declaration establishing the first European Community opens with the words “world peace” and presents European integration as a response to the threats facing peace in Europe. The goal was to make war on the continent not merely unthinkable, but “materially impossible.”

Today, the world is once again undergoing profound change, and a new international order is taking shape. At this critical moment, rather than engaging in unnecessary confrontation with European nations, Georgia must rebuild trust through active diplomacy and continue securing its place among Europe’s democratic, prosperous, and secure states. Europe without Georgia is incomplete - and by drifting away from the European Union, Georgia risks distancing itself from the very foundation of its own peace, unity, freedom, and prosperity, along with losing the historic opportunity.