Parliament Committee Chair: former PM Ivanishvili no longer involved in politics “in any way”
Sarjveladze stressed that Ivanishvili's decision to leave politics required “respect”. Photo: Parliament of Georgia
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Mikheil Sarjveladze, the Chairman of the Committee on Human Rights of the Georgian Parliament, on Wednesday said the former Prime Minister and the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili was no longer involved in the domestic politics “in any way”, “regardless of whether his opponents want to believe it or not”.
Sarjveladze stressed that Ivanishvili's decision to leave politics required “respect”.
To tell the truth, personally, I would be really happy if Bidzina Ivanishvili were in politics and somehow involved in political issues, although his personal decision to reject this, of course, requires respect. Therefore, he no longer interferes in politics in any way, regardless of whether our opponents want to believe it or not”, the Parliament official said.
In a letter addressed to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on Monday, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said allegations on the Georgian Government being run by Ivanishvili were “offensive”.
[Ivanishvili] no longer runs businesses in the country and no precedent of any kind exists on alleged personal or business connections with Russia. Thus, everything that was noted in the Resolution about informal governance is totally fictional. [...] Allegations on the Government being run by an individual who left politics by his own will a year and a half ago - rather than by its Prime Minister - are offensive to me personally and to my country”, Garibashvili said in the letter.
In a letter addressed to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on Monday, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said allegations on the Georgian Government being run by the former Prime Minister and founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili were “offensive to me personally and to my country”.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Monday issued a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission. Agenda.ge offers its readers an integral text of the Prime Minister’s letter:
Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday said allegations on the Government not being independent were “insulting” and led to “increasing polarisation” in the country’s domestic political environment.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday said the “campaign of so-called ‘deoligarchisation’”, which he claimed was organised by “internal or external political opponents”, involved a “completely unsubstantiated accusation” against former PM Bidzina Ivanishvili and was aimed at “discrediting” the current governance system in the country.
The founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party and the former Prime Minister of Georgia, Bidzina Ivanishvili, who left politics in January 2021, said on Wednesday the United States Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan had requested a meeting with him in March of this year, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the two holding a three-hour discussion.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said the Georgian Government would “do its best” to have “proper relations” with both the United States and the European Union.
Anri Okhanashvili, the chair of the Georgian parliament's legal affairs committee from the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said the working group engaged in implementing European Union conditions for granting the country the membership candidate status was preparing to present its bill on deoligarchisation.