Fallout and failures - EIB’s East–West Highway investments in Georgia amidauthoritarian takeover
-
Mariam Patsatsia
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has not issued new public sector loans to Georgia since the country’s authoritarian crackdown in 2024. However, major transport projects approved by the Bank prior to this shift remain active. Over the past decade, the EIB has invested more than EUR 1 billion in Georgia’s transport sector, including almost EUR 400 million for upgrades to the perilous Rikoti Pass stretch of the East–West Highway – part of the extended Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) – and a further EUR 107 million for two new East–West Highway extensions in the south of the country.
