EU foreign ministers are considering a response to Georgia's recently passed law that tightens rules for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in receipt of foreign funding, top EU diplomat Josep Borrell said on Monday.
Borrell said if further measures of the same kind are taken, then "the door to [the] European Union will not be open."
The legislation requires independent media and other civil society organizations to register as "foreign agents" and submit information to the state if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad.
The ruling Georgian Dream party justified the law as being in service of greater transparency and boosting Georgian sovereignty.
Mass protests and the intervention of the EU and the United States, which both oppose the law, failed to move the government.
Opponents believe the law will serve to silence organizations critical of the government in a way similar to what has happened in Russia.
EU foreign ministers are debating a range of responses, incuding a freeze on high-level meetings and channelling EU funding directly to NGOs in the country.
But there are also concerns about provoking the Georgian public, which remains solidly pro-EU.
"It is really important to keep them engaged towards the EU," Romanian Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu said.
Speaking at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis however said the options currently under consideration do not go far enough and that halting Georgia's progress towards the EU needs to be considered.