PM highlights Georgian Dream party founder’s, ruling party’s accomplishments on country’s “democratic development path”

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Sunday highlighted former PM and ruling Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili’s role, as well as the party’s accomplishments on the path of the country’s democratic development.

The “real and tangible” progress on the European integration path of Georgia began in 2012 after Ivanishvili and Georgian Dream came to power, Garibashvili noted in an interview to Imedi channel, stressing the former PM had spent three billion dollars, “his own funds, for the development of the country and its return on the democratic path”.

Any individual may buy a ticket for a hundred euros and fly to Europe to return on the following day. Who did it, my friends? The Georgian Dream did! It was done by Bidzina Ivanishvili and his team!”, the PM noted.

The Head of the Government highlighted the ruling party’s accomplishments, after 2012, on the path of Georgia’s European integration, including signing the Association Agreement with the European Union in 2014, as well as establishing a visa-free regime with the Union, after Saakashvili’s Government had postponed it.

,Every single day since 2012, not only within our country, but beyond it as well we had to tackle this narrative, false and fake news about the alleged Russian government of pro-Russian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili and so on and so forth. If this “pro-Russian oligarch” did so many great things to build this country and spent 3 billion, bringing real benefits of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement on the path of European integration with a visa-free travel arrangement and free trade, when I was fortunate to sign the EU Membership application last year – thanks to everyone and the team – leading to the granting of the European Perspective, if Saakashvili were in power we would not have had anything and might have stopped existing altogether as a sovereign state. You may recall that Saakashvili aspired towards long-term governance and had thousands of ideas – sometimes craving Singaporeisation, by distancing us from Europe as days passed.  the PM added.

Garibashvili also stressed the imprisoned former Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili and his governance has been “one of the most anti-European”, calling him a “mad dictator” who governed Georgia with “brutal and cruel methods, torturing and killing people”.

He also addressed students who stood at transparency bill rallies outside the Parliament in central Tbilisi on Tuesday and Wednesday, saying "you are being used" by these political losers, bankrupt people.

You are deceived by those who claim that the Georgian Dream does not follow a European path. I brought you facts. Let the UNM bring facts. They are representatives of the fascist organisation. What did they do on their European path? Nothing! They did not start work on visa-liberalisation. They deferred the process for 3 years. We started it.  They dropped the association process. Thus, a myth that they created is fake. I saw family members of a lot of people known to me at the rally. Many of them called me up and apologised. They genuinely thought something wrong was happening. Humans have wit and that is how we differ from animals. We have brains to think. We should be able to analyse and distinguish black from white. If we fail to do this, we should not claim that we want to create a strong state. Let us think about it” Garibashvili concluded.