Hungarian presence in Georgia sparks EU diplomatic tension

On Monday and Tuesday, Orban is visiting Georgia due to the parliamentary elections in the country on Saturday. He intends to personally congratulate the victory of the Georgian Dream party, which has governed the country since 2012.

Meanwhile, international observers, including from the OSCE, reported that the elections in Georgia were marked by unequal opportunities for candidates, polarization, antagonistic rhetoric, voter pressure, and significant tensions. The opposition and the pro-Western President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, deemed the elections rigged.

Borrell explained on Monday in an interview with Spanish public radio RNE that the Hungarian prime minister does not have foreign policy authority.

This term, Hungary holds the presidency of the EU Council, which means it is responsible for coordinating the work of ministers from member countries.

Borrell said that Orban is heading to Georgia, undoubtedly to show his support for the Georgian government. But, he assured, "Whatever Mr Orban says in his visit to Georgia, he does not represent the European Union."

This is another diplomatic initiative Orban took during his presidency that may create the impression that the Hungarian prime minister is speaking on behalf of the entire Community. Orban began Hungary's presidency in the EU Council with a visit to Kyiv, followed by trips to Moscow and Beijing.

The British weekly The Economist wrote following Saturday's parliamentary elections in Georgia that another domino piece falls into the hands of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, whose fairness is highly questionable.

"The election in Georgia on October 26th was a crucial moment for a country once hailed by the West for its democratic reforms. Its pro-European opposition saw it as perhaps the last chance to repair the damage done by the current anti-Western government and put the country back on track towards membership of the EU. Suppose the official results are to be believed. In that case, that chance seems to have slipped away," assessed "The Economist," adding that if the victory of the Georgian Dream party is confirmed, the Kremlin will be closer than ever to its goal of creating another client state.

The weekly explained that since Russia invaded Ukraine at the beginning of 2022, the Georgian Dream has led Georgia, once an ally of the West, into uncharted waters. It was noted that the government took a neutral stance on the war in Ukraine, which angered its pro-Western citizens, and is moving towards authoritarianism, showing readiness to beat and intimidate protesters and political opponents.

Although Georgia applied for EU candidate status (and received it in December last year), the government quickly sabotaged it, partly through continuous criticism of the West. As a result, accession talks are suspended, as the British weekly added.

According to "The Economist," the election results are both a result of the ruling party's campaign, which promoted elaborate conspiracy theories that the "Global War Party" from the West is trying to install the Georgian opposition in power to drag the country into a war with Russia, contrasting images of war-torn Ukraine with those of prosperous Georgia - and to some extent, this had an effect - as well as significant, though difficult to estimate, irregularities during the elections.

The week I painted a rather pessimistic outlook for Georgia. "The scale of Georgian Dream’s victory (and perhaps fraud) has taken the wind out of the opposition’s sails. The streets of central Tbilisi were eerily empty after the first results were announced. The situation echoed that after the last parliamentary elections in 2020, when opposition claims of widespread cheating were not backed up by Western governments. Protests soon petered out. This time around it remains possible that after a delay there is an upsurge of protests. The armed forces, which might have to choose sides in a worst-case scenario, lean towards America. Yet the biggest concern is that Georgia now quietly slips away from the West," concluded "The Economist."