TBILISI, August 6 – Retracting an earlier demand, Sweden’s Jessica Rosencrantz said while EU treaties guarantee full legal protection for all minorities, including LGBT people, candidate countries such as Georgia are not required to legalize gay marriage in their national laws.
Rosencrantz, who is minister for EU affairs, corrected remarks by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson earlier that Ukraine’s path toward EU membership should include legal recognition of same-sex partnerships, alongside comprehensive protections for LGBT citizens.
Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili welcomed the clarification, interpreting it as confirmation that Georgia’s recently adopted Family Values and Protection of Minors law, which bans same-sex unions and limits gender-affirming care, is not at odds with seeking membership in the bloc. He emphasized that the law is based on broad public support and aligns with European values on minority protection without imposing marriage equality as a membership condition.
With reference to the Swedish PM’s comments, Papuashvili warned against ad hoc reinterpretations of EU accession principles by individual politicians or bureaucrats, as it might hinder Georgia’s membership negotiation process.
In Georgia, critics of closer EU alignment argue that such demands would clash with deeply held cultural and religious values. The ruling Georgian Dream party, which enjoys strong support among socially conservative voters, has emphasized that while anti-discrimination laws are welcome, they will resist pressure to redefine marriage or family in ways deemed foreign to Georgian traditions.
GD has codified family values in several ways. In 2024, it introduced a constitutional amendment adding “protection of family values and minors” to the Georgian constitution. It also brought in a separate legislative package on “Family Values and Protection of Minors” and 18 amendments, banning same-sex partnerships, adoption by LGBT individuals, gender-affirming procedures, and prohibiting “LGBT propaganda” in media, education, and public spaces. The law package even revoked same-sex marriages by Georgian nationals abroad.
Supporters of EU membership have warned that Georgia risks falling behind as European partner states increasingly adopt same-sex partnership rights. They argue that legal protections without formal recognition leave LGBT people vulnerable, and that aligning with EU norms is essential for political and economic progress.
Georgian Dream officials meanwhile have been cultivating relations with socially conservative forces in Hungary and other EU countries, maintaining that they intend to pursue EU membership for the country by 2030, while opposition parties claim the ruling party has sabotaged the negotiations at the behest of Russia.
