Parliament Vice Speaker: US “strongest supporter” of Georgia, Georgia its most “loyal partner and friend” in region
Volski noted the ruling team would not comment on the issues raised in the statement of the former fellow party members as the ruling team had its own channels of relationship with the United States. Photo: Parliament of Georgia
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Gia Volski, a ruling party MP and the Vice Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, on Friday said the United States was the “strongest and the most efficient supporter” of Georgia, but added on its part, it also did not have “as loyal a partner and friend as Georgia” in the South Caucasus region.
Volski was commenting on a statement of Popular Force, a newly launched public movement composed of the former ruling Georgian Dream party MPs who exited the team in June, that said recent actions of Kelly Degnan, the United States Ambassador to Georgia, “reinforce people's belief that the radical agenda of the radical [domestic] opposition is coordinated by the United States Embassy”.
The United States is really the strongest and the most efficient supporter of Georgia. [...] But we must also know that the United States does not have as loyal a backbone, partner and friend as Georgia, at least in the [South Caucasus] region”, the Parliament official said.
Volski noted the ruling team would not comment on the issues raised in the statement of the former fellow party members as the ruling team had its own channels of relationship with the United States.
I will not make additional comments, but the fact is that all kinds of issues, as Kelly Degnan also pointed out, are discussed behind the scenes. In a bilateral relationship, this is the format in which we will continue to communicate”, he concluded in his comments.
Popular Force, a newly launched public movement composed of the former ruling Georgian Dream party MPs who exited the team in June, on Thursday released a statement saying the actions of Kelly Degnan, the United states Ambassador to Georgia, “reinforce people's belief that the radical agenda of the radical [domestic] opposition is coordinated by the United States Embassy”.
MPs and members of city councils who have left the ruling Georgian Dream party over the past month following a disagreement over the public relations strategy with the rest of the team on Thursday declared the founding of a public movement.
The 12 conditions outlined by the European Council for granting Georgia the European Union membership candidate status later this year are seen as part of the “revolutionary plan” of the “radical opposition” in the country, three MPs who left the ruling party last week to publicise “behind-the-scenes developments” of the domestic political field said in a statement on Monday.
Sozar Subari, Mikheil Kavelashvili and Dimitri Khundadze, the three MPs who left the ranks of the ruling Georgian Dream party this week, on Thursday said the decision of the European Council not to grant Georgia the European Union membership candidate status outright contributed to an “opposite effect” of the objective of depolarisation of its domestic political environment, a qualification included in the body’s requirements to the country.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Friday said the Georgian Government was particularly “proud” of the relations between Georgia and the United States.
Popular Force, a recently launched public movement composed of former ruling Georgian Dream party MPs who exited the team in June, on Tuesday released a statement claiming “disrespectful and crass attitude” towards Georgian state institution in a United Sates Embassy document on the country’s judicial reform.
Irakli Kadagishvili, the Chairman of the Rules and Procedural Issues Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, on Tuesday said the ruling Georgian Dream party could not follow the “tone and style” of the statements by the MPs who had left GD following a disagreement over the public relations strategy with the rest of the faction and were criticising actions of the United States Embassy and Ambassador Kelly Degnan.
United States Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan on Wednesday said allegations of the Embassy’s interference in Georgia’s domestic institutions by several Georgian MPs were “reckless conspiracy theories” and had no basis.