Ruling Georgian Dream leaves EU-mediated agreement

President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Rik Daems has urged Georgian political parties to practically implement the April 19 EU-mediated agreement which includes large-scale reforms including in the electoral and judiciary fields. 

EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell has stated that he is happy that the United National Movement opposition party MPs attended the parliament session yesterday after a six-month political standoff, adding that the presence of 148 MPs in the 150-member parliament allows the state legislature to start working on important issues. 

Five MPs of three opposition parties and two independent MPs have formed a new faction in the Georgian state legislature with the name Charles Michel’s Reforms Group. 

Opposition United National Movement (UNM) members will take up their parliamentary mandates after almost a six-month boycott, party chair Nika Melia has announced after the party’s political council meeting today. 

The Lelo opposition party has stated that they may boycott the October 2 municipal elections, while several opposition leaders have urged opposition MPs to give up their mandates as the ruling Georgian Dream party has left the April 19 EU-mediated agreement. 

Leader of opposition party Girchi - More Freedom Zurab Japaridze has left parliament after the ruling Georgian Dream party’s withdrawal from the EU-mediated agreement early today, stating that the agreement was his reason for being in parliament. Japaridze claimed the ruling party decided to leave the agreement because it has ‘zero chance of receiving 43% of the vote in upcoming elections’ – a condition provided for in the EU-mediated agreement, which if not met would see repeat parliamentary elections in Georgia. 

Georgian civil society organisations say the recent decision of the ruling Georgian Dream party to back out of the April 19 EU-mediated agreement ‘constitutes a straightforward rejection of Georgia's Euro-Atlantic course and the peaceful development of the country through democratic reforms’.

Opposition parties are undecided what to do after the ruling Georgian Dream party left the EU-mediated agreement yesterday - a document signed by the majority of Georgian political parties back in April 2021 which resolved a six-month political crisis. 

MEP Viola von Cramon is now holding informal meetings in Tbilisi with Georgian opposition parties and members following the recent decision of the Georgian Dream ruling party to withdraw from the April 19 EU-mediated agreement. 

Georgia’s former ambassador to the EU, Natalie Sabanadze, who resigned back in March 2021 after eight years in the post, has joined the political party of former Georgian PM Giorgi Gakharia For Georgia, Gakharia has confirmed. Sabanadze attended yesterday’s meeting with MEP Viola von Cramon along with Gakharia to discuss the situation created after the ruling party’s withdrawal from the EU-mediated agreement.

The ruling Georgian Dream party has named all of the 63 (three female and 60 male) candidates in all of the municipalities for the upcoming October 2 local elections. The Georgian Dream, which has recently withdrawn from the EU-mediated agreement, says the announcement of early parliamentary elections will not in a any form depend on the results of the upcoming municipal elections.

The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party MPs say that the party has no plans to rejoin the EU-mediated agreement it left on July 28. Georgian Dream MP Archil Talakvadze said earlier today that ‘the ruling party was the only party which was fulfilling the agreement’ which had resolved a six-month political crisis following disputed parliamentary elections at the end of 2020 and proposed large-scale reforms. 

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said earlier today that the implementation of reforms will continue despite the ruling Georgian Dream party’s withdrawal from the EU-mediated agreement which ended the six-month political crisis caused by the parliamentary elections of 2020. The April 19 agreement obliged all signatory parties to participate in the process of fundamental electoral and judicial reforms’ implementation.

Opposition MP Tamar Kordzaia has boycotted the parliamentary activities after the ruling Georgian Dream party’s withdrawal from the EU-mediated agreement. Kordzaia told IPN that she signed the agreement because ‘the western course is important,’ noting that parliamentary cooperation with the Georgian Dream is impossible.

The international community has criticised the ruling Georgian Dream party’s exit from the EU-mediated agreement which put an end to a six-month political standoff caused by parliamentary elections of 2020. Seven US senators have published a joint statement on the breakdown of the Georgian EU-mediated agreement which says that ‘recent developments in Georgia undermine the reform efforts agreed to in the April 19 agreement.’ 

The US Embassy in Georgia has responded to the ruling party’s exit from the EU-mediated agreement and stated that ‘Washington is growing increasingly alarmed about repeated setbacks to Georgia’s democratic future.’ The ruling Georgian Dream party announced yesterday that the agreement initiated by the European Council President Charles Michel ‘completed its mission’ and left the agreement. 

European Council President Charles Michel has called on all political parties in Georgia today ‘to put the interests of citizens first’ following the ruling party’s exit from the EU-mediated agreement. The ruling Georgian Dream party has left the April 19 agreement brokered by Charles Michel, noting that it had ‘completed its mission.’ 

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has confirmed October 2 as the date of local self-government elections of Georgia.

An opposition political party For Georgia has made an official decision to participate in the 2021 local self-government elections.

Head of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Irakli Kobakhidze has stated that ‘no elections will take place until the one scheduled in 2024.’ 

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has stated that the country must hold the October 2 municipal elections in a safe environment amid the coronavirus pandemic and has announced a meeting with the leadership of the country’s Central Election Commission (CEC) in the coming days. 

The European Georgia, Girchi - More Freedom and Movement Droa will nominate joint majoritarian candidates in Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi for the upcoming October 2 local municipal elections on August 15. Droa movement Leader Elene Khoshtaria stated that the municipal elections are ‘special elections, which is essentially a referendum,’ noting that the opposition understands its responsibility before the Georgian population to propose the choice which will ‘give them [Georgian citizens] faith.’

The United National Movement (UNM) opposition party, which won 34 of 60 opposition seats in the 2020 parliamentary elections in the 150-member parliament, has presented mayoral candidates for the October 2 municipal race. 

European Council President Charles Michel has tweeted that the deadline for disbursement of macro financial assistance is looming and ‘it is time for the Georgian government to demonstrate its commitment to the agreements and notably the reform agenda.’ Michel’s tweet comes after yesterday’s meeting with Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili during the Crimea Platform forum in Kyiv. 

The United National Movement (UNM) and the European Georgia opposition party leaders say that the Georgian government has refused to take the second part of the EU’s  €75 million euro loan because the EU was likely to impose sanctions against Georgia for the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party’s withdrawal from the April 2021 EU-mediated agreement. 

The EU delegation to Georgia has responded to the Georgian government’s recent refusal to take the second tranche of the EU’s 150 million euro loan, stating that they ‘respect’ the decision, but noting that the country has been unable to completely fulfil preconditions that would have been needed to receive the second instalment.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has responded to recent statements of local and foreign politicians on the connection between EU financial aid and judicial reforms in the country. Garibashvili said that the Georgian Dream government has already carried out ‘fundamental reforms’ in the judiciary and remains committed to the tenets of the April 2021 EU-mediated agreement to proceed with court reforms. 

The United National Movement (UNM), the largest opposition party in Georgia, has decided to join the April 2021 EU-mediated agreement after more than four months of refusing to do so.The UNM’s decision comes on the heels of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party’s withdrawal from the agreement at the end of July ‘because the main opposition, the UNM, refused to join the agreement,while other opposition parties were constantly violating it.’

US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan has welcomed the largest opposition United National Movement (UNM) party’s decision to sign the EU-mediated agreement and stated that ‘it is a good sign for strengthening Georgia’s path forward.’

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has stated that the decision of the largest opposition party, the United National Movement (UNM), to sign the April 2021 EU-mediated agreement after more than four months since the document was signed by other parties ‘is a farce and lie.’ He said that the ruling party had waited for the UNM to join the agreement for 100 days and other opposition parties to fulfil the stipulations of the document which offered large-scale electoral and judiciary reforms. 

Head of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, MP Irakli Kobakhidze has reminded the parliamentary opposition that constitutional amendments related to electoral and other issues are a result of the party’s goodwill as the GD has withdrawn from the EU-mediated agreement.The agreement signed by the ruling party and the majority of opposition parties on April 19, 2021 obliged the signatories to carry out large-scale electoral and judiciary reforms. 

The ruling Georgian Dream party has launched a new weekly English-language podcast on Youtube oriented on the audience outside Georgia. 

Eleven days are left until the October 2 municipal elections in Georgia when voters will elect 64 mayors and 2,068 members in 64 city councils. The lead up to the elections has been marked by the ruling party’s withdrawal from the April 19 EU-mediated agreement, an attack on journalists by right-wing activists in July during Tbilisi Pride events, the recent leak of alleged personal files and continued vows of Georgia’s ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili that he will return.

European Council President Charles Michel has commended all Georgian citizens who participated in local municipal elections on October 2 and called on the country to focus on ‘in-depth structural reforms.’ “Essential that the country's focus now return to in-depth structural reforms, as set out in the 19 April Agreement, notably in the rule of law and judicial spheres,” Charles Michel stated. 

The Georgian parliament has suspended the MP status of the head of the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party Nika Melia with 79 votes earlier today, as Melia requested back in August 2021 to prepare for the October 2 municipal elections. 

The EU representation to Georgia has refused to attend the hearings of candidates for Georgian Supreme Court judge in the state legislature, as the European Union has been calling on Georgia for several months to carry out a fundamental judiciary reform first. 

The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) says that if the Georgian parliament approves ‘simplified procedures’ for the election of the head of the country’s Central Election Commission (CEC) and its members it will be ‘another deviation’ from the April 2021 EU-mediated agreement. 

EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell has said that the April 19 EU-mediated agreement remains a "roadmap" for Georgia's European integration, pointing out that the agreement had helped to end a "toxic boycott of the Parliament" after the 2020 elections.

Four Georgian-based non-governmental organisations that reviewed the implementation of the European Union-mediated April 19 agreement between the Georgian government and opposition, which put an end to six months of political tension over the country’s October 2020 parliamentary elections, say ambitious electoral reform was partly carried out in the country while pointing out that the fulfilment of judicial reforms almost failed.

Ruling Georgian Dream party head Irakli Kobakhidze on Wednesday said a reinstatement of the European Union-mediated agreement between Georgian political actors last year, a deal designed to resolve tensions stemming from the 2020 parliamentary elections, was “not possible”.

Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday claimed the country’s authorities were “well-prepared” for next year’s parliamentary elections, but opposed the latest opinion by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe over election rules of the head of the country’s Central Election Commission and its members. 

Irakli Kobakhidze, the candidate for the post of Prime Minister of Georgia, on Thursday hailed the Georgian Dream Government's efforts for ensuring the country’s “democratic transformation” since taking office in 2012, while slamming the previous United National Movement authorities for committing “systemic crimes”, “stalling” Tbilisi’s European integration, and involvement in a “treacherous handover” of territories to Russia following the 2008 war.