On the evening of June 20th, tens of thousands of Georgians gathered on Tbilisi's main thoroughfare, Shota Rustaveli Avenue, to support Georgia's EU membership and condemn what they saw to be the Georgian Dream government's intentional incapacity to achieve EU candidacy. The March for Europe was organised by the activist group Shame Movement with the slogan "Going Home - to Europe." The organisers claim they hoped to convey a pro-European message to Brussels, where the EU Council will deliver its final decision on Georgia's EU candidacy on June 23-24.
Shota Dighmelashvili, the leader of the Shame Movement, gave a manifesto to a big audience in which he vowed to launch a new public movement that would return Georgia to Europe. "The Georgian people recognise, and the EU confirms, that oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili is the greatest obstacle on Georgia's path to Europe," the manifesto states, referring to the founder and former prime minister of the ruling Georgian Dream party, who is widely believed to be pulling the strings behind the scenes. The statement calls for the formation of a National Council of the New Popular Movement, which will convey its demands to the government and comprise diverse civil society and media organisations, political parties, students, and trade unions.
The estimated size of the rally ranged from 50,000 to 120,000 individuals. Outside of the capital, smaller groups of Georgians went to the streets in Kutaisi, Batumi, Zugdidi, and Ozurgeti, as well as abroad in Berlin, Vienna, and Brussels. Protesters have pledged to reconvene on the 24th of June, when the European Council will announce its decision.
Earlier, on June 17, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that the Commission recommends that Ukraine and Moldova get candidate status if they make the necessary changes. The Commission also recommended for Georgia pursue a European perspective, but it must first meet the criteria before becoming a candidate. Irakli Kobakhidze, the chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, responded that the government will do all possible to further build democratic institutions, guarantee peace, and promote economic growth in order to keep the prospect of membership alive. "We are glad that this perspective has now been formally acknowledged by the European Commission and that it has provided us with a detailed roadmap to achieving candidate status," he stated.
