Polarisation “problematic” point in EU recommendations, necessary to reduce radicalism in opposition - ruling party head

Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Sunday said polarisation was a “problematic” issue of the 12 priorities, outlined by the European Union in June for granting its membership candidate status to the country, as it could not be resolved by the Government’s reforms, it required “reduction of radicalism” in domestic opposition.

In his comments to the media, Kobakhidze stressed the opposition was not “taking any steps” to reduce radicalism and emphasised that the Government within its responsibility had fulfilled most of the priorities, adding the country’s international partners were “constantly” informed about the progress of the implementation process.

He said the Government continued to work “actively” to fulfil the EU recommendations and stressed the implementation of all the reforms would be completed by the end of June, adding “the country will be completely ready to receive the candidate status”, the local media said.

Unfortunately, last year the European Council made a disappointing decision for our [Georgian] society. We hope that the political decision to be taken by the European Council [in December] will be fair”, Kobakhidze noted.