BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Monday moved to impose visa restrictions on Georgian diplomats and government officials over the police crackdown on opposition protesters demanding a rerun of October’s contested election.
Tens of thousands of people have filled the streets regularly in recent weeks since the governing party decided to suspend negotiations on joining the EU. Police have increasingly used force in their attempts to break up the rallies.
Former soccer player Mikheil Kavelashvili became Georgia’s president on Saturday as the governing Georgian Dream party tightened its grip on power in the election that the opposition alleges was rigged with Moscow’s help.
After chairing what she described as a “very tense discussion” among the bloc’s foreign ministers, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said they had decided “to suspend the visa free regime for diplomatic passports and service passports.”
The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, was tasked to prepare the measure.
Kallas also tabled a list of Georgian officials for the ministers to weigh sanctions against them, but Hungary and Slovakia — considered the most Russia-friendly of the 27 EU countries — blocked the move.
“With sanctions, we need 27 on board,” Kallas said. But she called the imposition of visa restrictions an important first step.
Chairing her first meeting since taking office on Dec. 1, Kallas added: “It’s my first Hungarian veto but I can guarantee it’s not the last.”
Hungary holds the EU’s rotating presidency until the end of the month, when Poland takes over. Over the past year it has routinely blocked joint moves against Russia or in support of Ukraine, complicating procedures.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys told reporters that a visa ban is the “minimum we should do," adding that "we have to send the message to Georgian people in the streets that Europe doesn’t abandon you."
The EU granted Georgia candidate status for membership in December 2023 but put the accession bid on hold and cut financial support in June after the passage of a “foreign influence” law that was widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms.
Sweden's Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard, left, shakes hands with Croatia's Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman, second right, during a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Dec 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, center, arrives to chair her first meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Dec 16, 2024. From right, Netherland's Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp, Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares Bueno, Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, Slovenia's Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon and Estonia's Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas rings a bell to signify the start of a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Dec 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
NEW YORK (AP) — Ingrid Lewis-Martin, a former top aide to New York Mayor Eric Adams, expects to be indicted on criminal charges related to alleged improper gifts, her lawyer said Monday.
Lewis-Martin abruptly resigned Sunday as Adams' chief adviser, the latest departure from an administration that has been enveloped in criminal investigations. The mayor’s office called it a planned retirement.
Lewis-Martin's lawyer, Arthur Aidala, told reporters at a news conference Monday that she had been invited to speak with the grand jury considering charges but declined because the outcome of the investigation appeared to be predetermined. The case involves gifts given to Lewis-Martin, he said, but declined to discuss further details, while claiming — without providing evidence — that the case was politically motivated.
“To say that this doesn’t have to do with politics is just naive,” Aidala said as he sat alongside Lewis-Martin at his office in Manhattan.
Aidala said that he offered to have Lewis-Martin speak to prosecutors after media reports emerged about the grand jury but that the Manhattan district attorney's office turned them down.
“I’m here falsely accused of something; I don't know what it is,” Lewis-Martin told reporters.
Her decision leave office comes as Adams faces federal corruption charges and several members of his administration have come under investigation. Adams himself has been charged with accepting luxury travel perks and illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official and other foreign nationals looking to buy his influence. He has pleaded not guilty.
Lewis-Martin’s phones were seized and her home was searched in late September by prosecutors in Manhattan, who, along with federal prosecutors, met her at an airport in New York as she was getting off a flight from Japan.
Hours after the search, Lewis-Martin took the extraordinary step of appearing on Aidala’s radio show to discuss the investigation, telling her attorney, “I do believe that in the end that the New York City public will see that we have not done anything illegal to the magnitude or scale that requires the federal government and the DA’s office to investigate us.”
Lewis-Martin has been one of the mayor’s most trusted and longest-serving aides, working under Adams in prominent positions throughout his political career — when he was a state senator, Brooklyn borough president and mayor. She has said she first met Adams about four decades ago, when Adams and her husband, Glenn Martin, were in the New York City police academy.
Adams, in a statement, said, “Ingrid has not been just a friend, a confidant, and trusted advisor, but also a sister."
“We’ve always talked about when this day would come, and while we’ve long planned for it, it is still hard to know that Ingrid won’t be right next door every day,” he added.
Lewis-Martin, in the statement from City Hall, said that her time alongside Adams has been an “amazing ride” but that “now, today, the time has come for me to focus on my wonderful family and myself and retire.”
“To my city: I started as a community activist and worked on many campaigns, ultimately landing at City Hall. I am a native New Yorker, and I love my city. Know that I will continue to do everything in my power to fight for this great city every day as a private citizen,” she said.
Izaguirre reported from Albany, N.Y.
FILE — Ingrid Lewis-Martin, chief advisor to New York Mayor Eric Adams, speaks during a press conference at City Hall in New York, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Peter K. Afriyie, File)
FILE — New York Mayor Eric Adams, and chief advisor to the mayor Ingrid Lewis-Martin, attend a press conference at City Hall, in New York, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Peter K. Afriyie, File)
