Day: January 29, 2024
After days of silence, following the publication of the new edition of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) Index, in which Georgia was ranked third out of six countries, behind Moldova and Ukraine, and was said to have “lost significant ground across both democracy and good governance, and policy convergence indicators,” Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, slammed the authors of the Index, accusing them of “sending negative conclusions about Georgia to European structures.”
Speaking to journalists on the matter, the Parliament Speaker Papuashvili said that the Georgian authors of the index “are angry with the Georgian government and they have taken out their anger on Georgia”. He stated: “This evaluation has no connection with reality,” adding that “it is not serious to discuss that Georgia is lagging behind Ukraine and Moldova.” He urged the authors of the Eastern Partnership Index to “look at all the authoritative international evaluations and rankings and they will see where Georgia stands, where our country is.”
Using exactly the same wording as the spokesman, the Georgian authors of the index were accused of “sending negative conclusions about Georgia to European structures”.
The POSTV went on to say that “due to the negative report sent by [the author], Georgia has taken the third place in the report of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, after Ukraine and Moldova”.
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The ruling party’s mouthpiece TV “Imedi” announces an expected swap of posts between GD party leader Irakli Kobakhidze and Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili in the coming days. The “Imedi TV” said on January 29 that according to its “exclusive information” Georgian Dream plans to reshuffle the Cabinet of Ministers.
Following the changes Kobakhidze will also hold the position of political secretary. According to Imedi, the changes were approved at the January 24 meeting of the Political Council.
After the return of the oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, the nomination of the next Prime Minister is his prerogative as that of the Honorary Chairman, according to the new amendments to the statute of the ruling Georgian Dream party.
The Georgian Dream announced it will hold a Party Congress on February 1.
On December 30, Bidzina Ivanishvili officially returned to politics for the third time, becoming “honorary chairman” of the “Georgian Dream” party. Speaking at the GD party congress, Ivanishvili said that the reason for his return was “to protect the excessively strong team from human temptation.”
