Some 80 percent of Georgians want to join the EU, which begs the question of why the ruling party feels so secure.

Eighty percent of Georgians want to join the European Union, so how can the government be so confident it will hold onto power by spurning Brussels and seemingly deliberately torpedoing the nation’s EU prospects?

That’s the political paradox at the heart of the crisis gripping the country.

In a sharp slap in the face to the EU, the ruling Georgian Dream party has passed Russian-style legislation that Brussels fears could be used to label media, think-tanks and NGOs with even a drop of Western funding as “foreign agents,” crimping freedom of speech.

The EU is making clear this legislation means membership is effectively off the cards, and the authorities used water cannon and pepper spray against thousands of protestersdemonstrating against it outside parliament on Wednesday night.