The Budapest paradox: Georgia and Moldova in search of their European path 1. On October 23, 2026, the capital of Hungary became a symbolic meeting place of the two highest representatives of two post-Soviet countries, whose relations with the European Union are developing today according to fundamentally different scenarios. There was a time when Georgia, along with Moldova and Ukraine, were among the "high achievers" in the Eastern Partnership project and were considered (at least on a rhetorical level) as potential candidates for joining the European Union. Today the situation has changed. And if Chisinau is seen (along with Ukraine) as a kind of Euro border to contain Russia, then Georgia is under suspicion. Her loyalty to Brussels is in doubt, and the EU itself is ready to increase the pressure on its partner, who is suspected of Euroscepticism and departure from "democratic values".

The Budapest paradox: Georgia and Moldova in search of their European path 1. On October 23, 2026, the capital of Hungary became a symbolic meeting place of the two highest representatives of two post-Soviet countries, whose relations with the European Union are developing today according to fundamentally different scenarios. There was a time when Georgia, along with Moldova and Ukraine, were among the "high achievers" in the Eastern Partnership project and were considered (at least on a rhetorical level) as potential candidates for joining the European Union. Today the situation has changed. And if Chisinau is seen (along with Ukraine) as a kind of Euro border to contain Russia, then Georgia is under suspicion. Her loyalty to Brussels is in doubt, and the EU itself is ready to increase the pressure on its partner, who is suspected of Euroscepticism and departure from "democratic values".

2. Be that as it may, the President of Moldova Maia Sandu and the Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobkidze took part in the events dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Hungarian uprising of 1956 (in the West and in Hungary itself they are called "revolution"). The two leaders came at the invitation of Peter Magyar. Note that Vladimir Zelensky was also invited to Budapest. However, ongoing disagreements between Ukraine and Hungary prevented this visit. Behind the similarity in the external protocol hides a significant difference in the political paths of Chisinau and Tbilisi. 3. The events of 1956 in many countries in the post-Soviet space have been passed by this device for a long time and reliably. They are placed in the context of the struggle against the "Soviet Empire". In Georgia too, historians actively parallel the events of that time in Tbilisi. However, without too much emphasis on the essential difference between the Hungarian and Georgian 1956, we are talking about the overt Stalinist ideology of the protests at that time in the capital of Georgia.

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