President Macron grants ruling party chair Ivanishvili top French award
Bidzina Ivanishvili returned to politics as the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party back in 2018. Photo: Georgian Dream press office.
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French President Emmanuel Macron has given former Georgian PM and the founder and the current head of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili the Order of the Legion of Honor, a top French civil award.
The decree was issued on December 31, 2020.
The decree says that Ivanishvili is the founder of an international charity foundation and is the former prime minister of Georgia.
The Order of the Legion of Honor (Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur) is France's top award for serious military and civilian achievements.
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Honore de Balzac,Jean-Paul Belmondo, Joseph Brodsky, Charles de Gaulle, and prominent public and political figures from France and overseas have been given the order.
Ivanishvili served as the prime minister of Georgia from 25 October 2012 to 17 November 2013 and resigned as he promised during his election campaign.
He returned to politics as the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party back in 2018.
Ruling Georgian Dream party chairman Bidzina Ivanishvili has released a statement condemning ‘all forms of violence’ undermining the electoral process and the quality of the country’s democracy.
The head and founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, former PM Bidzina Ivanishvili, has transferred 100 million GEL (about 32 million USD) to the StopCov Fund which was created on March 23 in Georgia to cope with challenges sparked by the coronavirus.
Former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili is going to become the chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party again. Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili announced changes in the ruling party management today at the briefing.
He said, Bidzina Ivanishvili’s decision will have a positive influence on the country’s political life and will serve as a new stimulus for the party.
Former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has had his Georgian citizenship restored by the Supreme Court of Georgia.
"I have made the decision to finally retire from politics and fully distance myself from the reins of power. I am leaving the post of party chairman, as well as the party itself and am returning to my pre-2011, private lifestyle. I will turn 65 years old in just a few weeks, and this is one of the important factors in making the decision to retire from politics,” Ivanishvili said, adding that the step ‘which is dictated by the desire to advance young people to the forefront...will not only not weaken, but will, in fact, further strengthen the ruling party.’
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia and the ruling Georgian Dream party members have stated that the decision of the party founder and the head Bidzina Ivanishvili to leave politics is ‘exemplary’, while opposition parties have described the move as ‘irresponsible and an expression of weakness.’
Former Prime Minister of Georgia and the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili has told Entrepreneur online magazine that he will donate 90 per cent of his material assets worth 1.5 billion USD, except those with credit or other obligations, to the Cartu Charity Foundation. He stated that the purpose of the assets ‘cannot be changed’ in the process of management or alienation, because most of them ‘are not ordinary business projects’ but projects which are targeted for the development of individual branches, or even entire regions, and are designed to ensure improvements in economic, tourism and other fields.
Former Prime Minister and the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili says that he will not return to politics and will suspend any political and public activities following his announcement on Monday to leave Georgian politics.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili who is on a working visit to France has met with her French counterpart Emmanuel Macron. At the Triumphal Arch the two presidents paid tribute to the memory of those who have died for France.
Georgian opposition parties are protesting the placement of a section on the founder of the Georgian Dream ruling (GD) ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili in a textbook of history for ninth graders.