Day: October 6, 2023

Viktor Orban will come to Georgia

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told reporters that he will visit Georgia next week with a government delegation. Before the meeting of EU leaders in Granada, Orban said that he is the most devoted supporter of Georgia’s European integration. According to the Hungarian prime minister, he will come to Georgia to show his support for it.

“It is totally unfair that you are not promised that you will become [an EU member], because you have done a good job. We need you very much,” Orban said.

Asked by a journalist why Georgia was denied candidate status last year, Orban said it was because of the “selfishness” of EU leaders:

“The leaders are selfish. They don’t want to let you in and give you the financial resources you need… which is totally unfair to your country, so we have to share what we have because we need you, you have a strategic position.

I will be in Tbilisi next week. There will be a meeting of the intergovernmental commission in Tbilisi. The Hungarian government will be in Georgia. All ministers will be with me in Tbilisi.”

The informal meeting of EU leaders in Granada will discuss EU enlargement, migration issues and the strategic agenda for 2024-2029.

• “Georgian authorities are trying to prevent the country from obtaining EU candidate status”
• British MP: Georgian Dream is a pro-Putin and pro-Russian party

As a reminder, in May this year, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili spoke at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Budapest, also called the “Anti-LGBT Forum”, where he said that the Hungarian people were very lucky to have “such a wise and far-sighted” leader. “Forces opposing the truth are trying to achieve their goals through LGBT propaganda”.

According to Garibashvili, the vast majority of Georgian society shares traditional conservative family values, and these values are not just a legacy of the past. According to Garibashvili, they are the living present – the environment in which “we grew up and want to bring up our children.”

Garibashvili’s speech in Hungary was condemned by the European Socialists party, of which Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party was a member. The European Socialists later expelled it from its ranks.

Commentary by Pavel Gerchinsky

According to EU Ambassador to Georgia Pavel Gerchinski, reports about the opening of a Russian naval base in the occupied Abkhazia, in the city of Ochamchira, are extremely worrying. Regarding the so-called law on tents, Herczynski explained that the EU supports freedom of expression and assembly. The ambassador also spoke out about the impeachment of the Georgian president, saying that the process is “not conducive” to depolarization.

What the EU ambassador said to journalists

On the Russian base in Abkhazia

“Let me reiterate the EU position: we support Georgia’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. The news about the opening of another Russian military base in the occupied region of Abkhazia is, of course, extremely alarming. This will be a clear violation of Russia’s obligations under the six-point plan of 2008, this is clearly a very undesirable and disturbing development”.

According to the de facto president of Abkhazia Aslan Bzhania, a permanent Russian naval base will be established in Ochamchira. Bzhania said this in an interview with the Russian publication “Izvestia.”

Secretary of the Security Council of Abkhazia Sergei Shamba reacted to the statement of Aslan Bzhania and noted that this agreement “was not reached today” and the decision was taken at previous joint meetings. According to Shamba, this is an example for Abkhazia of the implementation of union agreements with the Russian Federation.

On the so-called tent law

“What I can say is that the European Union condemns violence, regardless of who it is directed against. We condemn any kind of violence, but on the other hand, we very clearly support freedom of expression and assembly.”

On October 5, the parliament adopted amendments to the law on assemblies and rallies in the third reading.

According to the draft law, participants in rallies or demonstrations are prohibited from putting up a temporary structure “if it poses a threat to the participants of the rally or demonstration or other persons, hinders the police in protecting public order and security, causes disruption of the normal functioning of an enterprise, institution or organization, or hinders the holding of the rally and demonstration”.

On the impeachment of the President of Georgia

“The process of impeachment of the President of Georgia does not contribute to depolarization – point number one in the list of 12 recommendations of the European Union, that is why there is an ambiguous picture.

On the one hand, a lot has been done, especially in recent weeks, after the visit of the EU High Representative, we see a huge acceleration, on the other hand, there are still different signals coming from Georgia.”

The Constitutional Court of Georgia has finalized the hearings of the parties on the impeachment of Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, which were held for three days. The opinion of the CC should be published in due time within the next two weeks.

If the CC recognizes the violation of the constitution by Salome Zurabishvili, the process will already fall within the competence of the Parliament. To declare the impeachment of the president, the president needs the votes of 100 MPs – at this stage the ruling Georgian Dream party does not have the necessary support.