Tbilisi Accuses EU of Backing Georgia Coup Attempt

By Staff, Agencies

The EU’s complicity in last year’s coup attempt in Georgia is proven by the bloc’s silence on violence committed by anti-government protesters, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said Monday.

Kaladze, who also serves as secretary-general of the ruling Georgian Dream party, was referring to the storming of the presidential palace on October 4, 2025, during municipal elections in which he won a third term as mayor.

The EU has accused Georgian Dream of steering the country away from a path toward membership in the bloc.

Georgian officials have countered that Brussels is punishing the government for refusing to join anti-Russian sanctions or to “open a second front” in the Ukraine conflict.

Kaladze also accused Brussels of backing opposition claims that several recent elections were rigged, saying this had helped fuel unrest. He said EU statements about violent demonstrators amounted to “only encouragement, because all this was planned by them.”

“With their support and funding, a campaign was launched regarding a coup d’état and revolution. Their main task was to overthrow the current government in the country,” he stated.

Kaladze accused Brussels of seeking to put “their agents into power, so that they can then use the country and the Georgian people to pursue their interests.”

He nevertheless urged the EU to turn the page and rebuild relations with Georgia on the basis of equality and mutual respect.

The storming of the presidential palace was initially presented as a “peaceful revolution” by parts of the pro-EU opposition. The protesters also had the backing of French-born former President Salome Zourabichvili, who had sought to remain in office after her term expired in December 2024.

Georgian Dream came to power in 2012 amid public dissatisfaction with then-President Mikhail Saakashvili and later reversed several reforms that had strengthened the presidency under his rule.

Georgia was granted EU candidate status in 2023 alongside Ukraine and Moldova, as Brussels pursued enlargement amid its confrontation with Russia. Its accession process has since been effectively suspended.

Recent elections in both Georgia and Moldova have been denounced as rigged by opposition forces. Brussels, however, has continued to strongly support Moldova’s pro-EU government, while relations with Georgia’s leadership have deteriorated.