At the summit, EU leaders will praise Moldova, condemn the Georgian authorities

European Union (EU) leaders will praise the "successful" presidential elections in the country's membership candidate Moldova at the upcoming summit and promise continued cooperation. At the same time, he will express "serious concern" regarding the developments in Georgia, in which the authorities are violently suppressing protests.

The leaders also plan to reaffirm their support for Kiev and underline "the principle that no initiative regarding Ukraine is undertaken without Ukraine," according to a draft document seen by Radio Free Europe (RFE) ahead of the December 19 summit.

The document is an early draft and changes are still possible before the meeting in Brussels.

"The European Council commends the authorities of the Republic of Moldova for the successful conduct of the presidential elections and the referendum on entering the EU accession into the Constitution," the document states, while criticizing "hybrid attempts to undermine the country's democratic institutions."

On November 3, Moldova's pro-Western President Maja Sandu defeated pro-Russian Alexander Stojanoglu in a runoff vote marred by accusations of Russian interference and voter fraud.

At the same time, voters also narrowly passed a referendum confirming the country's goals for closer integration into the EU.

On the other hand, EU leaders express concern over the government's violent crackdown on demonstrations in Georgia, where the Georgian Dream party is in power, as well as its decision to suspend the country's EU accession process until 2028.

"The European Council strongly condemns violence against peaceful demonstrators. Georgian authorities must respect the right to freedom of assembly and expression and refrain from using force. All acts of violence must be investigated and those responsible must be held accountable," the document states.

"The European Council emphasizes the readiness of the Union to support the European aspirations of the Georgian people," it added.

Georgia won EU candidate status in December 2023, but relations with Brussels have soured in recent months, starting with the adoption of a controversial "foreign agent" law, which critics say threatens to publicly discredit thousands of media and civil society groups as "services " external powers.

As for Ukraine, the draft document states that "the European Council reiterates its firm condemnation of Russia's war of aggression" against that country.

It also reaffirmed the EU's "unwavering commitment to provide continued political, financial, economic, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support to Ukraine and its people for as long as necessary and as intensively as necessary. Russia must not win."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on both the EU and NATO to speed up the process of Kyiv joining those organizations, saying it would help ensure the country's sovereignty in the face of a full-scale Russian invasion.