First female Defence Minister on Georgia’s horizon

Georgia could soon have its first female Minister of Defence.

The country’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili this morning nominated current Member of Parliament (MP) Tinatin Khidasheli to this position.

Nominee Khidasheli is an MP from the Georgian Dream Coalition and represents the Republican Party, and a majoritarian from the Sagarejo region. In addition, Khidasheli is the chair of the European Integration Committee of Parliament and the vice chairperson of the ALDE faction of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. She is also married to the Speaker of Parliament David Usupashvili.

"Everyone knows Tina Khidasheli well,” said Garibashvili today while announcing the Cabinet Minister nominees.

"From today she will be the fifth female Defence Minister throughout Europe, after the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Albania, and the first female Defence Minister in Georgia.”

"You are all well acquainted with her experience. Throughout her whole life she has been involved in public policy; she has also worked for protecting the rights of the soldiers. Her activities in the direction of Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic course are also worth a mention, which, I am confident she will successfully continue,” he noted.

Throughout her career Khidasheli, 42, has worked in various positions, including as a member of Tbilisi City Council (Sakrebulo) from 2010-2012. Earlier, from 2005-2010 she was the capital city’s segment representative of the Republican Party, in 1998-1999 she was the elected president of the non-governmental organisation Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and again from 2002-2004.

As for her education, Khidasheli gained a BA in journalism and an MA in international law in Tbilisi State University, which she attended from 1990 to 1995. Between 1995 and 1996 she gained her second MA in Political Science at the Central European University. She also earned a diploma in the Human Rights Advocate Program from the American University Washington College of Law. 

PM Garibashvili was only expected to announce two new candidates for the vacant posts of Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs and Minister of Environment Protection today, following the recent resignation of the former ministers.

This week’s resignation of former Sport Minister Levan Kipiani saw him become the seventh minister of Georgia’s Cabinet to resign or be removed from the role in the past nine months.

Kipiani’s resignation meant more than a third of Cabinet had changed, which prompted Parliament to exercise a new norm of the Constitution and begin the process of holding a new vote of confidence in the revised Cabinet.

Currently, Georgia’s Cabinet consists of 20 members, which means the Prime Minister could change six Ministers without asking Parliament but as soon as the seventh Minister changed, the Cabinet was regarded as "disbanded” and the new Cabinet needed to be reapproved by Parliament. In the past the PM could change as many Cabinet Members as he wanted without Parliament's approval.

Today, Garibashvili nominated several new Cabinet Ministers. According to the Georgian Constitution, these nominees must be presented by the Georgian President to Parliament within seven days, after which Parliament will either approve or reject the proposed Cabinet.

If Parliament approves the new Cabinet, Georgia will have its first female Minister of Defence.

As for previous Defence Minister Mindia Janelidze, the PM today offered him the position of Secretary of State for the Security and Crisis Management Council.

Today PM Garibashvili also nominated Gigla Agulashvili as Minister of Environment Protection and Tariel Khechikashvili to the post of Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs.