EUPopLink Country report - Georgia

<ns5:p>This country report examines the relationship between populism and Euroscepticism in Georgia, a case in which support for European integration has long constituted one of the most stable elements of public and political consensus. It traces how this consensus has become increasingly politicised under conditions of democratic erosion, geopolitical insecurity, and the Russia–Ukraine war. The report argues that Euroscepticism in Georgia has moved from the political margins to the centre of state power, through its growing articulation by populist political actors. While the Conservative Movement/Alt-Info articulates hard Euroscepticism through anti-liberal, nativist and openly pro-Russian narratives, the ruling Georgian Dream has developed a softer but increasingly assertive form of conditional Euroscepticism. Instead of opposing EU membership directly, Georgian Dream repackages European integration in terms of sovereignty, peace, tradition, dignity, and resistance to external coercion. Moreover, the ruling party’s populist rhetoric portrays itself as the guardian of “the people” against all domestic forces that oppose its policies, as well as liberal civil society, the embassies of other states in Georgia, and the EU elites themselves. In this context, Euroscepticism becomes not merely a foreign-policy position, but a populist instrument of regime legitimation and authoritarian consolidation.</ns5:p>