EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell told Georgia Monday that its push to join the bloc could be ended, as Brussels weighs options to punish the authorities over a “foreign influence” law.

“The door for Georgia to become a member of the European Union is open,” Borrell said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

“But if the government continues on the same track, continues doing what they are doing, this door will be closed, and the Georgian people will pay the consequences, will suffer.”

The ruling party in the South Caucasus country — which formally became a candidate to join the EU last year — adopted a controversial “foreign influence” law this month that critics say is modelled on Russian legislation used to stifle dissent.

The move was condemned by Georgia’s Western supporters, with the United States banning several officials from the South Caucasus nation from visiting.

Concerns were further fuelled by proposed new legislation to ban what the ruling party calls “LGBT propaganda”, in another conservative shift that drew fresh comparisons with repressive Russian laws.