Parliament Committee Chair says ruling party cannot follow “tone and style” of MPs criticising US Embassy
The Parliament official stressed the statements of the MPs were not an “attack”, though “they give rather harsh assessments, including about the US Embassy”. Photo: Parliament of Georgia
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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.
Kadagishvili was commenting on a statement of Popular Force, a recently launched public movement composed of former ruling Georgian Dream party MPs who exited the team in June, claiming “disrespectful and crass attitude” towards Georgian state institutions in a US Embassy document on Georgia’s judicial system reform.
The Parliament official stressed the statements of the MPs were not an “attack”, though “they give rather harsh assessments, including about the US Embassy”.
The position of these MPs is quite radical and it is their choice. It is natural that the ruling party [Georgian Dream] cannot follow the tone and style of these statements. [...] It is not an attack, but they provide rather harsh assessments, including about the US Embassy”, Kadagishvili said.
In his remarks over the matter, the Parliament official noted his former fellow party members wished Georgia to be integrated in the Euro-Atlantic space, and that “they have such strict and harsh assessment on some issues [...] but this is their stance”.
The statement of Popular Force, released on Tuesday, said the document on the judicial reform, presented by the US Embassy to the Georgian Parliament several days ago, “further supports” a viewpoint that efforts of the Embassy are aimed at “weakening” Georgian state institutions and strengthening the “radical opposition”.
The comments criticised the document for mostly using the term “should”, and only making “recommendations” in a few places, with regards to reform initiatives to be undertaken in the system.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Dimitri Khundadze, an independent MP and a member of the Popular Force movement, on Wednesday said it was “very sad” that the United States Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan “uses the talking points” of the opposition United National Movement party in her response to the movement’s criticism of the Embassy’s wording of a document on the country’s judiciary reform.
Five more MPs of the ruling Georgian Dream party on Tuesday joined Popular Force, a public movement created by former ruling Georgian Dream party lawmakers who exited the team in June.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday rejected the statement by Bonnie Jenkins, the United States undersecretary of state, who said that the US had been “dismayed” to see recent “personal attacks” on ambassador Kelly Degnan and the embassy in Tbilisi.
Irakli Kadagishvili, the chair of the Georgian parliament's rules and procedural issues committee, on Wednesday said the domestic opposition was “very confused” about steps it should take on the backdrop of political development in the country in its European Union integration process.