Marta Kos said Georgia remains a candidate for EU membership “on paper only” and that future relations will largely depend on the bloc’s member states.
Georgia retains candidate status for European Union membership, but its path toward accession is effectively stalled. On Tuesday, October 6, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said the country was a candidate “on paper only” and expressed regret.
Kos said the EU’s member states would largely determine the future course of relations with Tbilisi. She added that developments in Georgia would be reflected in the European Commission’s enlargement reports, expected at the end of October, and suggested the reports would signal the direction of Brussels’ policy.
The Commission had previously said its 2026 enlargement package would include indicative road maps for Montenegro, Albania, Moldova and Ukraine, which it considers the leading candidates in the accession process. Georgia is not on that list.
Georgia became an EU candidate in December 2023. In 2024, the bloc said the country’s accession process had effectively been halted. Kos’s remarks therefore point to a gap between Georgia’s continuing formal status and the lack of progress to the next stage of integration.