Former ruling party MPs claim need for informing public on opposition’s behind-the-scenes dealings for “unrest and war”

Sozar Subari, Mikheil Kavelashvili and Dimitri Khundadze, the three MPs who left the ranks of the ruling Georgian Dream party on Tuesday, issued a joint statement earlier today saying they had decided to set aside party affiliation in a bid to inform the public about behind-the-scenes dealings of the domestic opposition that they claimed were aimed at causing “unrest and war” in the country.

In the statement, the former party members said they had held “serious discussions” with the party leadership and members of its Parliamentary majority, noting a disagreement over “to what extent we should tell the truth to the public”, in reference to their claims about plans of the opposition.

It is high time to provide the public with much more information about what is going on behind the scenes of Georgian politics. The fate of the state and the people - not the Government or any of us - is at stake here”, they said, explaining abandoning the party mandates freed them up in the goal.

Subari, Kavelashvili and Khundadze claimed there were “great forces” among the opposition that wanted a “revolution” in the country, aiming to replace the elected Government with the “people who are directly responsible for the many crimes committed in 2004-2012”, in reference to the previous Government of the United National Movement party.

Clearly, the European Union membership candidate status is completely irrelevant to Ukraine today. Due to the Russian military aggression, the country is on fire, destroyed, hundreds of people die every day, and in such circumstances, naturally the [EU] candidate status for this country can not even be a small consolation. The same goes for Moldova, which directly borders the conflict zone, is home to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees and is experiencing severe economic problems”, the statement noted in explaining political developments with regard to the European Council’s granting of the candidate status to the two countries, but not Georgia.

The MPs explained the issue of the EU membership status had been brought up by the opposition to “aggravate” the political backdrop for the Georgian Government and “artificially create a revolutionary mood” in the public, calling the topic of the status “a kind of mousetrap” set for the  Government.

In the statement, the politicians claimed Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili had been “initially involved” in this scenario, and alleged plans had been in place to let her announce Georgia’s submission of its EU membership bid in the Parliament. The former ruling party members claimed Zourabichvili had attempted to announce a sitting of the legislative body with this goal, “in contravention of the Constitution”, before being thwarted in the plan by the Government team.

It should not have been difficult to guess that Ukraine and Moldova were going to be granted the [EU membership] candidate status while Georgia would be left without it - and this expectation was fully met”, the three MPs said in reference to the European Commission’s recommendation on the matter, approved by the European Council earlier this month.

They also noted the United National Movement opposition party was now “actively using” the terms of ‘deoligarchisation’ and ‘depolarisation’ - which appear in a recent resolution of the European Parliament on violations of media freedom and the safety of journalists in Georgia, and in the European Council’s set of conditions outlined for the Government for granting the country the EU membership candidate status at the end of the year.

Two alternative scenarios were developed for the [opposition’s plans for a] revolution. The short-term scenario was based on a European Parliament resolution. The resolution and the statements of the MEPs severely insulted the Georgian Government, and they tried to create an emotional background among citizens. However, this short-term scenario failed, and the revolution did not take place on the first try”, the statement said.

The second scenario is based on the European Union decision on [conditioning the granting of] the membership candidate status [to Georgia]. By rejecting the [outright] status for Georgia, they created a certain emotional background, which, in [the opposition’s] opinion, should be followed by the imposition of the so-called reforms, the only goal of which is to change the Government”, the three MPs said.

Subari, Kavelashvili and Khundadze also claimed Georgia would not be granted the EU membership candidate status even in six months’ time - as outlined with the set of reform recommendations - if it did not become “involved in the war against Russia before this date, or does not impose sanctions on Russia - which is also a direct path to war”.

Our main goal is to prevent the implementation of the plan, which aims at creating artificial obstacles to Georgia's European integration. If the public is not armed with the necessary truth, it will become part of the scenario of unrest and war, which will make Georgia's integration into the European Union impossible forever. We must equip the public with the truth so that it becomes a guarantor of Georgia's European future”, the three MPs concluded in their statement.