The pronouncement comes as tensions fray between Tbilisi and Brussels over a \u2018Kremlin-inspired\u2019 foreign agent law.<\/p>\n
Georgia is unlikely to join the European Union any time soon, despite having been granted candidate status last year, the chairman of the country\u2019s ruling party said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast December, we became a candidate country. The next step is joining,\u201d Irakli Garibashvili\u00a0told reporters<\/a>\u00a0on Saturday. \u201cToday, we are not ready to become a member country.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite widespread protests, the Georgian Dream politician and former prime minister defended a controversial new bill that would label NGOs, campaign groups and media outlets that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad as agents of foreign influence. Critics say the legislation would drive a wedge between Georgia and the West and stifle opposition in the same way similar rules have in Russia.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we are told that tomorrow we will become a member of the EU, then it will be possible to very easily cancel it, revise, transform or adopt a new one,\u201d Garibashvili said.<\/p>\n At the same time, he claimed that \u201cthere is no consensus a country can become a member of the EU today\u201d because the bloc \u201cis not ready for enlargement and it will take time and these next steps depend on many things.\u201d<\/p>\n The EU has told Georgia the proposals, which have brought thousands onto the streets in protest in recent weeks, are\u00a0incompatible with European values<\/a>\u00a0and should be withdrawn, while Washington branded the\u00a0\u201cKremlin-inspired\u201d legislation<\/a>\u00a0as an attack on civil society.<\/p>\n When the European Commission granted Georgia candidate status last year, it\u00a0set out specific steps<\/a>\u00a0needed for the South Caucasus country to be admitted as a full member, including tackling political polarization and strengthening human rights protections. According to the bloc\u2019s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, passing the foreign agent law, as well as the government\u2019s new proposals cracking down on LGBTQ+ rights, \u201cwould negatively impact Georgia\u2019s progress on its EU path.\u201d<\/p>\n