Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Thursday rejected Brussels’ “ultimatum” on suspending visa-free travel for Georgians if Tbilisi does not reverse its democratic backsliding. 

Earlier this week, the EU set an end-of-August deadline for Tbilisi to address its concerns — namely, repealing the Russia-style foreign agents registration law and ensuring freedom of expression for its citizens.

In recent months, Georgia’s increasingly pro-Russian authorities have cracked down on street protests and sentenced multiple opposition figures to prison time.

“Georgia’s democratic backsliding will come at [a] cost,” the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said Tuesday. 

Kobakhidze, however, told the media that visa-free travel to Europe is not “existential” for his country, and once again defended the foreign agents law, claiming it was necessary to defend Georgian “peace and stability” against foreign influence. 

The prime minister added that he believes the visa-free regime will ultimately not be suspended.

The EU has long mulled sanctioning officials responsible for the crackdown on the opposition, but that would require unanimity among member countries — and the ruling Georgian Dream has allies in Hungary and Slovakia. 

Suspending visa-free travel, however, would only require a qualified majority vote. 

In January, the Council already suspended visa-free travel for Georgian diplomats and officials.