Georgian PM emphasises importance of “crucial” elections, says Gov’t “strongest guarantee for peace” in country

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze this week told Euronews the parliamentary elections on Saturday would be “crucial”, and framed it as a “choice between peace and war”.  

We are anticipating really crucial elections for Georgia. We are enjoying quite rapid development in our country, but there are still challenges. We are saying very directly and very explicitly that this election is also a referendum about the war and the peace issue”, he added.

Kobakhidze also claimed his Government was “the strongest guarantee for peace in this country, but it's also about the development of the country”.

He said the country had enjoyed “almost double-digit economic growth” over the last two and a half years and  had the “highest growth” not only in the region but also in Europe”, adding “without proper economic figures Georgia will never be accepted as a member, a fully-fledged member, of the European Union.”.

The average economic growth in Georgia was around 9.7 percent in 2021, 2022 and 2023. And also this year's preliminary figure is 10 percent economic growth. So for us, keeping this trend is very important”, the PM pointed out. 

In the interview, Kobakhidze also said Europe was a “natural choice for Georgians”, adding “we are a Christian nation, and Europe has always been associated with Christianity”.

You know that we are a Christian nation and Europe was always associated with Christianity. It was [about] defending it, protecting Christianity for Georgia. So that's why Europe was always a kind of natural choice for Georgia and for Georgians”, he told the outlet.

And that is one of the, or the strongest reason, why we want to be a fully-fledged member of the European family. [Being in] Europe also means a higher level of prosperity, which means development for Georgians. So that's why we are very much committed to this foreign policy priority of Georgia”, the Prime Minister said. 

He emphasised his Government was “clearly pro-European, which he said was “evidenced by our actions”, adding “we will continue to do everything to promote Georgia's EU accession in the future”. 

In response to the question of the level of dialogue with the EU for Georgia's accession to the bloc, the PM claimed his Government was “facing some challenges” in terms of dialogue at the moment.

[B]ut in general, if we summarise the outcomes of our policies, the Georgian Dream Government has managed to achieve all the important steps towards European integration. We managed to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union back in 2014;. we managed to sign the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area deal with the European Union; we got the visa-free regime for our citizens. And finally, the Georgian Dream Government managed to get [EU membership] candidate status for Georgia”, the Government head said.

We strongly believe that as soon as these elections are over and as soon as the war in Ukraine is over, we will essentially improve and restart relations between Georgia and the EU, and also between Georgia and the US”, Kobakhidze said.

The PM also highlighted the controversial domestic law on transparency of foreign influence,  reintroduced by the ruling Georgian Dream party in spring, which requires registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.

He said “the content of this law has nothing to do with the content of the Russian law about NGOs, it’s only about transparency”.

The other thing which is envisaged by this law is to ensure that the NGOs are publicising their annual financial declarations to the Minister of Justice, and that's it. There are no restrictions. That's why this messaging about [the legislative piece being similar to] the Russian law was completely fake. And the laws about LGBTI [the law “on family values and protection of minors”], that's also our national decision ”, Kobakhidze emphasised.

Asked about supporting Ukraine, he said Georgia had “strongly”  supported Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity”, and condemned the Russian military aggression “many times”.

"We have joined more than 600 international acts in support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and condemning the Russian military aggression”, he said, adding the development meant “ that “position” of the Georgian Gov’t with regard to the ongoing war in Ukraine “is very strong” and “based on international law standards”.