Ruling party head: Georgia will “march forward” to Europe “with dignity”

Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday vowed the Georgian authorities’ support for the country’s European integration by saying the “march forward to Europe” would be facilitated “with Christianity”, “with sovereignty” and “with dignity”.

In remarks over Tuesday’s public protest over a proposed bill on transparency of foreign influence, Kobakhidze noted the domestic “radical” opposition and the media “affiliated with them” had “convinced a large part of the public” that the bill - adopted by the Parliament in its first reading and termed by the party Chair an “American law” - was “instead a Russian one”, a development he said had caused a “genuine agitation” in the public.

However, as always, the radical opposition tried to use this genuine agitation to fulfil its own political goals and tasks. Radical opposition supporters committed unprecedented violence against law enforcement officers. [...] Yesterday, on the instructions of the [opposition] United National Movement [party], demonstrators assaulted law enforcement officers and the Public Defender. This fact reminds us once again that these people will never change their nature”, Kobakhidze said. 

The GD official stressed the proposed bill - which calls for registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “agents of foreign influence” if they derive more than 20 percent of their income from abroad - served to clarify “only whose bona fide or non-bona fide” goals and objectives were “served by specific organisations”.

“Georgia is a state, and anyone who wants to disturb the country will be held accountable with full strictness of the law. Eventually, the passion will subside, and the public will have the transparency of NGO finances that the Foreign Influence Transparency Law provides”, he continued.

More than 80 percent of Georgian citizens support the European future of Georgia, and more than 90 percent trust the [Georgian] Orthodox Church. From this, it is clear that those who curse the Church will never bring Georgia to the European Union. We will march forward to Europe with Christianity, we will march forward to Europe with sovereignty, we will march forward to Europe with dignity”, Kobakhidze concluded.

The Georgian police on Wednesday said it had arrested 66 people for “petty hooliganism”, disobedience to law enforcement and throwing “Molotov cocktails and stones” at officers during the protest outside the Parliament building in Tbilisi, after the legislative body gave its initial backing to the bill.