21/05/2026 Monitoring
The Monitoring Committee has expressed “serious concerns about the democratic breakdown and deep political and social crisis” in Georgia, warning that “the democratic backsliding has continued unabated as has the crackdown on civil society, political opposition and dissent”.
In a draft resolution on the basis of a report by the co-rapporteurs Edite Estrela (Portugal, SOC) and Sabina Ćudić (Bosnia and Herzegovina, ALDE), it is regretted that “none of the urgent recommendations of the Assembly have been addressed” and stated that the continuing breakdown of democracy “raises serious doubts about the authorities’ willingness to abide by Georgia’s membership obligations and accession commitments to the Council of Europe”.
The committee stressed that “membership of the Council of Europe is a privilege that comes with rights and obligations” and that the principles and standards of the organisation “cannot be put into question or negotiated”.
The committee described as “unacceptable” the initiative “to ban practically all democratic opposition parties in Georgia and the criminal prosecution of their leadership on politically motivated and trumped-up charges”, warning that “if pursued, this course of action would effectively establish a one-party dictatorship in Georgia”.
The parliamentarians also warned that “the conditions for holding genuinely democratic elections currently do not exist in Georgia” because of “the relentless crackdown on the democratic opposition, civil society and the independent media, as well as the extreme social and political polarisation in the country”.
The draft resolution further calls for the repeal of “repressive legislation”, including amendments to the Criminal Code, the Law on Political Union of Citizens and the Code of Administrative Offences. It also condemns “the continued assault on civil society organisations, their leadership, as well as independent media”.
The committee additionally deplored that “no credible investigations have been conducted into police brutality and other human rights abuses committed during demonstrations”, expressing particular concern about “reports that prohibited chemical agents have been used for the dispersal of the protest in Tbilisi”.
Finally, the committee urged the Georgian authorities to fully implement judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and recommendations made under the OSCE Moscow Mechanism, which it said “coincide with previous resolutions on the democratic backsliding in Georgia”.