Ruling party head: “crimes committed” by UNM “secondary” to European People’s Party

Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Sunday said “all the crimes committed” by the United National Movement opposition party during their time in power were “secondary” to the European People's Party.

Kobakhidze was responding to a statement by the EPP on May 31, suggested by the domestic UNM opposition, which said  “in recent years” the EPP had observed “with great concern” a trend of “democratic backsliding” in Georgia.

They [EPP] put aside the values. All the crimes committed by the United National Movement, which were directly contrary to European values, are secondary [to them]. It can be seen from this statement [by EPP]. The main thing [for them] is to protect [their] own members, which I think is not a correct approach,” the GD official said.

Kobakhidze underlined that for the Georgian Government Europe had something to do with “values” and not some location or something else. 

Therefore, the main thing on the part of our [European] partners should be adherence to these values, which we did not see in the case of the European People's Party when they made this statement [on Georgia],” he concluded.

On June 1, Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, said the statement by the European People's Party on Georgia showed the agenda of the United National Movement opposition party and a part of the opposition “absolutely diverges” from the interests of the country.

In her turn, Thea Tsulukiani, the Georgian Vice Prime Minister and Culture Minister, said the United National Movement opposition party and its Western lobbyists, specifically the European People's Party, were "trying their best" to prevent Georgia from obtaining the European Union membership candidate status.