European Socialists (Georgian: ევროპელი სოციალისტები, romanized:evrop'eli sotsialist'ebi) is a political party in Georgia. The party was founded on January 9, 2021, by four MPs who defected from the right-wing populistAlliance of Patriots party list. The party was registered in the National Agency of Public Registry on 28 January 2021.
The party represented an opposition in the 10th convocation of Parliament of Georgia from 2021 to 2024, but it failed to receive any seats in the 2024 Georgian parliamentary election as it failed to gather enough signatures to register for the polls.[3] While in Parliament, European Socialists was known for close cooperation with the ruling Georgian Dream government. The party supports the controversial 'foreign agent bill'. The group’s political leanings are a subject to debate among analysts with some seeing the party as social democratic and pro-European, while others argue it is a conservativepro-Russian party.
Irma Inashvili, Gocha Tevdoradze, and Giorgi Lomia suspended their MP status, however, the party as a whole did not cancel the entire party list, which allowed Avtandil Enukidze, Davit Zilpimiani, Gela Mikadze, and Pridon Injia to keep their mandates and enter the parliament.[4] They soon left Alliance of Patriots and established European Socialists, formally rejecting their former party's Euroscepticism and support for military neutrality, declaring a Euro-Atlantic agenda.[6] Alliance of Patriots has referred to the move as a "betrayal" and described their name as "cynical", stating that a party of "4 millionaires can not be socialist".[7]
The party ran in the 2021 local elections. It got 0.15% nationwide with almost the entirety of its vote being concentrated in Martvili. There it elected 4 MPs getting 6%. The party managed to elect another MP in Kazbegi.[8]
In 2024, European Socialists supported the controversial 'foreign agents bill' that led to the widespread protests.[9] The party’s registration to run in the 2024 parliamentary election was rejected by the Election Administration of Georgia due to the party failing to provide 25,000 signatures before the 1 August deadline.[10] Ilia Injia, the son of the party leader Fridon Injia became a Georgian Dream candidate on its electoral list.[11]