Day: June 25, 2024

On June 24, six opposition parties signed a “Declaration of Unity” in Brussels, outlining plans for the October 26 parliamentary elections and uniting around President Salome Zurabishvili’s Georgian Charter and its principles. They set a deadline of July 8 to decide on the best unifying configuration that will be most effective in terms of winning the elections and implementing the necessary reforms after the elections.

The parties underline their concern about the actions of Bidzina Ivanishvili and the people who “serve the oligarch and ignore the basic values of democracy and deliberately hinder Georgia’s aspirations to join the European Union and NATO”. They announce their unity around the Georgian Charter and declare their goal to unite for the upcoming elections in order to enter the Parliament and implement the necessary reforms. They promise to free the country from oligarchy and the Georgian Dream rule and return Georgia to the EU integration path.

The parties promise to do everything possible to achieve their declared goals, to unite and to win the elections. They note that they will do this together with the Georgian civil society, citizens and civil society organizations. The signatories of the Declaration promise:

• Intensify efforts before the upcoming elections to ensure that not a single electoral vote is lost and that crossing of the 5% threshold;
• No later than July 8, 2024, determine the most effective configuration of the parties’ unity that will bring maximum results in the elections;
• While maintaining an ethical framework, to continue to discuss the issues facing the country and avoid attacking each other before and after the elections;
• To stand together against the propaganda of the Georgian Dream;
• To agree on the formation of a unified governing coalition after the elections, in order to fulfill the points mentioned in the “Georgian Charter”;
• To commit not to vote in the new Parliament for the formation of a government with the participation of the Georgian Dream;
• After the parliamentary elections, to support the united presidential candidate in the presidential elections;
• To unite around strategic political goals and activities with civic protest movements and activists who have fought and are still fighting to protect democracy and return Georgia to the Euro-Atlantic path;
• Encourage and mobilize the maximum participation of Georgian voters living abroad in the elections and ask partner countries to facilitate the existing process;
• Agree to join efforts to protect all electoral votes and prevent election fraud;
• Ask the Western partners to use all available means to protect the right of Georgian citizens to participate in fair and transparent elections, as this opportunity may be deliberately restricted by the “Georgian Dream” government;
• Call on the OSCE/ODIHR, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and other organizations to provide long-term monitoring of the parliamentary elections.

Also Read:

• 03/06/2024 – Opposition Parties Sign Georgian Charter
• 27/05/2024 – Opposition Parties to Sign Georgian Charter Initiated by President

The EU will downgrade the high-level contacts with Georgia and consider freezing financial aid to the Georgian Dream government after it passed the controversial Law on Foreign Agents, the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borell told reporters following the meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers in Luxemburg. He also warned that the EU door would be closed to Georgia and the Georgian people would suffer the consequences if the government continued on the same track.

All U.S. partners, including Georgia, will be invited to participate in NATO partnership events, Jim O’Brien, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs said on June 24. In his remarks, the Assistant Secretary of State also noted that the U.S. is “very troubled” by the decisions and rhetoric “coming from a very small number of leaders” of the GD. He further clarified that if Georgia wants to join the Western political “clubs”, it will have to accept the rules of the club, stressing that this does not question the country’s sovereignty.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze spoke of the “unification of the country” through “strategic patience” and the importance of EU integration at the Independence Day reception that was held in Berlin.  “We also have a very important national task, which is to join the European Union. We have an ambitious goal for Georgia to become a member of the European Union by 2030,” said the prime minister. The event was attended by representatives of the Georgian government, ambassadors of Georgia, the Georgian diaspora in Germany, and German guests.  

The Independence Day event was preceded by the Ambassadorial Conference held on June 20 in Berlin. Commenting on the Ambassadorial Conference, PM Kobakhidze said that relations with the EU and the US have to be “reset” and “become healthy,” further noting that despite some difficulties in EU-Georgia relations, by 2030 Georgia will become an EU member state. The Ambassadorial was attended by the Georgian ambassadors to the United States and European countries, as well as the permanent representatives of Georgia to the European Union, NATO, and other international organizations.

President Salome Zurabishvili addressed a video message to Georgian Ambassadors to Europe gathered in Berlin, expressing regret that she was not allowed to address the ambassadors in person. “You are in the middle of Europe, and you are listening to lies, lies that our European voyage seemingly continues,” said the President in her video message. “I am not going to lecture you or make any suggestions. I want to say that Georgia’s ordinary citizens will be facing extraordinary choices on October 26 [Parliamentary elections], but for you, the time to choose is now,” concluded Zurabishvili.

In the meantime, former Ambassador of Georgia Irakli Koplatadze announced that he was leaving the foreign service. He last served as Georgian Ambassador in Slovenia. In his post on Facebook, he writes that he is leaving after 18 years of continuous diplomatic service, saying it has been a “privilege” to serve “the best interests of Georgia’s independence and joining the European Union and NATO.” In his second Facebook post, Koplatadze explained that despite being offered the ambassadorial appointment to a European country, given the anti-Western stance of the Georgian government, he no longer sees his place in the diplomatic arena.

On June 22, ALDE (Alliance for Liberals and Democrats for Europe party) adopted an urgent resolution on Georgia “Condemning the authoritarian and anti-European turn in Georgia” at the ALDE Party Council meeting in Vilnius. The resolution also acknowledged the Georgian people’s will to join the EU and called on the EU and European countries to impose travel bans and financial sanctions on Georgian Dream leaders and officials, “Russian law” initiators, as well as law enforcement involved in violence against peaceful activists and politicians.

On June 21, the Chinese Embassy in Tbilisi released a statement deploring the remarks made by U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Robin Dunnigan on awarding the contract to construct Anaklia Deep Sea Port to China Communications Construction Company. In its statement, the Chinese Embassy claims that Amb. Dunnigan’s assertions about China Communications Construction Company are “preposterous and seriously inconsistent with facts,” further accusing the U.S. diplomat of being unprofessional when making a statement.