EU 'not there yet' on sanctioning Georgia over crackdown
BRUSSELS
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on 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.
"We have proposed the list for sanctions for these people who are... using really force and violence against the opposition," Kallas said ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
"But everybody needs to agree to the list, and we are not there yet."
Georgia's authorities have forcefully clamped down on pro-EU demonstrators taking to the streets in recent weeks to protest the government's decision to shelve its push to join the bloc.
The 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.
Riot police have used tear gas and water cannons against largely peaceful demonstrators who fear that Georgian Dream is dragging the country back into Russia's orbit.
Brussels says there are "credible concerns" of torture and has called for the immediate release of detainees after more than 400 were arrested.
But despite a raft of EU states seeking to take a tougher line, Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, a staunch supporter of Georgia's government, has rejected attempts to sanction Tbilisi.
The EU has already suspended some support for the Georgian government and said in June the country's membership bid had "de facto" been frozen after authorities pushed through Kremlin-style laws targeting NGOs.
