Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Sunday said a part of the domestic opposition had “boycotted Europe” and the implementation of the conditions outlined by the European Union for granting the country the membership candidate status later this year.
The sabotage of Europe, the sabotage of the recommendations of the European Commission will remain engraved in history, and this fact will not go anywhere”, the GD official said in an interview with the Georgian Public Broadcaster.
Mdinaradze said it was “in the interests” of the Government to ensure it was granted the EU candidate status, as it would “strengthen the positions” of the ruling team, while claiming the outcome was not in the interests of the opposition United National Movement party.
No one in this country believes that they [UNM] will ever try to put subjectivism aside. Subjectively, receiving the candidate status is not in their interests because their already weakened and practically destroyed political force will be further destroyed. That is why they fight [against Georgia receiving the candidate status] in every way”, he continued.
Mdinaradze also claimed UNM had allocated “a million and a half dollars” for lobbyists in EU structures to ensure the country did not receive the membership candidate status under the Georgian Dream Government.
Irakli Kadagishvili, the Chairman of the Rules and Procedural Issues Committee of the Parliament, on Thursday called on the domestic opposition, non-governmental organisations and experts to get involved in the work process on fulfilling the 12-point conditions established by the EU.