The US House of Representatives has expressed bipartisan support for the MEGOBARI Act, a bill that mandates sanctions against senior officials of Georgia’s incumbent Georgian Dream (GD) government and pledges support for the Georgian people’s aspirations for Euro-Atlantic integration.

The lower body of Congress approved the Act, with 349 votes for to 42 against, on May 5, the 160^th day of continuous anti-government protests in Tbilisi, which began after GD suspended EU accession negotiations in November last year.

Demonstrators continue to demand a re-run of Georgia’s October 2024 parliamentary elections, which GD is accused of rigging, the release of all those detained at protests, and the country’s return to the European path.

MEGOBARI – Georgian for ‘friend’, the Mobilizing and Strengthening Georgia’s Accountability, Resilience, and Independence Capabilities Act – now needs to be passed by the US Senate, the upper body of Congress, before being signed into law by President Donald Trump.

“The MEGOBARI Act has passed the House and all enablers of the America-hating [oligarch GD founder Bidzina] Ivanishvili mafia cabal should be put on notice! Support free and fair elections or face the consequences,” US Representative Joe Wilson, who first introduced the bill in May 2024, wrote on X.

Once fully adopted, the act will oblige the US presidential administration to closely monitor the situation in Georgia, as well as impose sanctions on high-ranking Georgian officials responsible for democratic backsliding and diverting the country away from its Euro-Atlantic path, as well as on their family members and supporters.

Should the Georgian government reverse its authoritarian course, the bill will work to reinstate bilateral relations, which stalled when the US froze its Strategic Partnership with Georgia in December 2024 in light of GD’s U-turn on EU accession and violent treatment of demonstrators.

“Unfortunately, our bilateral relationship with Georgia has been eroded by the ruling Georgian Dream party’s moves that mimic Russia’s authoritarian tactics, as well as their rapprochement with China and Iran,” noted Republican Representative Brian Mast in a speech to the House, as reported by OC Media.

Representative Joe Wilson published a list of Georgian officials who will face sanctions under the MEGOBARI, individuals he claims are “assisting Ivanishvili in capturing the Georgia state and placing the country in service to China, Russia and Iran”.

Among these are the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze, speaker of parliament Shalva Papuashvili, Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelarui, a number of high-ranking judges and businessmen, Georgia’s general prosecutor Giorgi Gabitashvili and the owner of Georgia’s government aligned Imedi TV channel, Irakli Rukhadze.

The US placed Ivanishvili under sanctions in December 2024, accusing the billionaire of "derailing Georgia's Euro-Atlantic future” and leaving the country vulnerable to Russian influence. 

Reactions in Tbilisi

The House of Representatives’ approval of the MEGOBARI Act was met with resentment from GD and jubilation from their opponents, including thousands of demonstrators who marched in Tbilisi waving US flags and carrying posters of Joe Wilson on the evening of May 6.

“This shameful document does not in any way bear the spirit of friendship with Georgia, and here the hand of the "global deep state" is very clearly and unambiguously visible,” declared the chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Procedural Issues and Rules, Davit Matikashvili, alluding to GD’s favourite conspiracy that a subversive network of Western leaders is conspiring with the Georgian opposition to topple the incumbent government.

Matikashvili noted the similarities in rhetoric between the Trump administration and the GD party, stressed that, “in the wake of these coincidences… a substantial reset should take place, a new page should start in [Georgia-US relations] relations, a real strategic partnership, and not just on paper”. 

“What was adopted yesterday in the form of the MEGOBARI Act clearly has nothing to do with friendship, and on the contrary, it could even be considered an act of hostility,” said GD MP Vladimer Bozhadze in comments to reporters on May 6, as reported by InterpressNews.

The MP also expressed “sincere support”, on behalf of his party, for President Trump “in fulfilling his campaign promise to defeat the deep state”.

Opposition response

Georgia’s fifth president, Salome Zourabichvili, who has emerged as a rallying point for the pro-Western opposition, noted that the adoption of the MEGOBARI was a “very serious step”.

“This [GD] regime deserves sanctions – there is no other option, and our American friends understand this,” Zourabichvili declared.

Giorgi Vashadze of the opposition Unity-UNM coalition thanked the US for its “unanimous support at this decisive moment”, further highlighting that the passing of the MEGOBARI represents a “united and firm message from the world’s most powerful democracy” and constitutes “international recognition of the Georgian people’s resistance” and a “response to the violent regime’s actions”, InterpressNews reported.

According to a statement from the pro-Western Coalition for Change, Georgia’s American partners have both “expressed their strong support for the Georgian people” and simultaneously “taken an important step toward holding Ivanishvili’s usurping, violent, authoritarian, Russian-aligned regime accountable”.

For all it can be seen as a win for GD’s opponents, the MEGOBARI is by no means enough to force the party to call new elections and attempt to resolve Georgia’s deepening political crisis.

While Giorgi Rukhadze, co-founder of the Georgian Centre for Strategic Analysis, believes, as reported by Jam News, the MEGOBARI will “deal a heavy blow” to the ruling party, he stresses that sanctions alone are not enough to cause GD to “back down”, but merely a “supporting tool” to help “mobilise society to continue resisting” and “intensify pressure” on the regime.