BRUSSELS: EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Monday Brussels had put forward a list of Georgians to sanction over a crackdown on pro-Western protesters, but Hungary was set to block the measures.
\n\u201cWe have proposed the list for sanctions for these people who are… using really force and violence against the opposition,\u201d Kallas said ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
\n\u201cBut everybody needs to agree to the list, and we are not there yet.\u201d
\nGeorgia\u2019s authorities have forcefully clamped down on pro-EU demonstrators taking to the streets in recent weeks to protest the government\u2019s decision to shelve its push to join the bloc.
\nThe Black Sea nation has been in turmoil since the governing Georgian Dream party claimed victory in contested October parliamentary elections and then announced it would delay EU membership talks for four years.
\nRiot police have used tear gas and water cannons against largely peaceful demonstrators who fear that Georgian Dream is dragging the country back into Russia\u2019s orbit.
\nBrussels says there are \u201ccredible concerns\u201d of torture and has called for the immediate release of detainees after more than 400 were arrested.
\nBut despite a raft of EU states seeking to take a tougher line, Hungary\u2019s nationalist leader Viktor Orban \u2014 a staunch supporter of Georgia\u2019s government \u2014 has rejected attempts to sanction Tbilisi.
\nThe EU has already suspended some support for the Georgian government and said in June the country\u2019s membership bid had \u201cde facto\u201d been frozen after authorities pushed through Kremlin-style laws targeting NGOs.
\nEU officials said the bloc was also eyeing the possibility of imposing restrictions on Georgian diplomatic passport holders.
\nBut there was not yet consensus on what would be a largely symbolic move.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BRUSSELS: EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Monday Brussels had put forward a list of Georgians to sanction over a crackdown on pro-Western protesters, but Hungary was set to block the measures. \u201cWe have proposed the list for sanctions for these people who are… using really force and violence against the opposition,\u201d Kallas said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449729,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-449718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n