Dozens of diplomats and staffers are said to have lost their jobs, and the number is expected to grow, as the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) completed the first phase of its “reorganization.” The process began late in April and involves modifying the MFA organizational chart and posting tables. The process follows changes to the Law on Civil Service enacted late in 2024 that abolished merit-based competitive hiring for senior and mid-level positions, as well as the fast-tracked amendments to the Law on Diplomatic Service that eased dismissals for violating “ethical standards.” Many diplomats and most observers allege that the Georgian Dream is purging the diplomatic service.
A joint statement signed by over 200 officials from the MFA, only a day after the Georgian Dream government decided to halt the EU accession process on November 28, 2024, was the first such public statement from the officials.
Career Diplomats Leave
Following the announcement of the reorganization at the MFA, all managerial positions and many staff positions were declared abolished or vacant. While some of the officials saw their positions or entire departments abolished as part of the reorganization, others had been dismissed and were expected to reapply for their existing posts. Officials were invited to participate in competitions for managerial positions under new legislation, or to reapply to their old posts. Many of those who were dismissed in the latest round are those who did not participate in this process, claiming it was rigged to punish employees who openly expressed their criticism of GD policies. Some did apply, but were not selected.
“The reorganization, both at the central office and in Georgia’s diplomatic missions abroad, primarily aims to remove from office or downgrade the positions of those who signed the Joint Statement,” Shalva Tsiskarashvili, now former head of the MFA’s International Organizations Department, wrote on X on June 30. Tsiskarashvili warned that the process would result in “systemic politicization” of Georgia’s diplomatic service, and confirmed his resignation after 28 years in diplomacy.
Tsiskarashvili was among those who refused to take part in the internal competition. Others, too, made similar decisions, citing, among others, a lack of clarity about the process and the belief that the process served to “humiliate and break” civil servants critical of the government’s stance.
“Today I was officially dismissed from work,” Keti Pruidze, formerly a Councillor at the International Law Department, wrote on Facebook on July 1, noting it ended her four-and-a-half-year career at the Ministry. Pruidze said she refused to take part “in a process disguised as reorganization,” saying a new call was announced on her position without abolishing it. “The goal of this process from the beginning was our exemplary punishment.”
Pruidze, now a former Ministry employee who was one of the first signatories of the joint petition, told Civil.ge that she was only given two workdays to reapply for her position, which she didn’t do as she “knew for sure she would be dismissed.” She said up to 40 employees were dismissed from the ministry’s central office, a number she is convinced will grow, noting that those dismissed equally included both those who decided to reapply but were not reinstated, and those who refused to take part in what Pruidze calls a “masquerade.”
The diplomat stated that during the reorganization process, several non-career contractors were also dismissed. Two quasi-independent agencies subordinated to the MFA – the Information Center on NATO and the EU, and the Levan Mikeladze Diplomatic Training and Research Institute were abolished, and many of their employees were rendered redundant. MFA said earlier that the functions of both of those agencies would be “absorbed into the Ministry.”
Pruidze expects more dismissals to follow, as many were also recalled from diplomatic rotation, with their diplomatic positions abolished. She says this is a “direct targeting” of petitioners. Their deployment in missions ends on August 1, and it is unclear how many of them will reapply and how many will be left unemployed. “From what we’ve observed, in almost every such case the positions that were abolished were the ones that employed the signatories of the [November] petition,” she said.
EU and NATO Directorates Downgraded, Downsized
Some employees chose not to reapply for their positions and even began seeking new jobs before receiving official dismissal notices.
Their decisions came amid the restructuring, downgrading, merging, and downsizing of key Directorates within the Ministry responsible for integration into Western institutions. Critics—including some within the Ministry itself—viewed these changes as a troubling indication of Georgian Dream’s retreat from its stated Euro-Atlantic course.
The changes affected, among others, the Directorate General for Security Policy and Euro-Atlantic Integration, which had been responsible for NATO integration and broader security matters, including arms control. The Directorate was downgraded to a department and merged into the broader new Political Directorate of Security Policy, International Organizations, and Euroatlantic Integration. Its staff was reduced by more than half, and one of its key divisions—responsible for implementing NATO’s Annual National Programme (ANP), a key political and practical cooperation mechanism—was abolished.
“As has been the case with all my colleagues, I too have been job hunting over the past few months,” wrote Megi Benia on Facebook. Benia, also one of the first signatories of the joint petition, worked in the Department of Emerging Security Challenges and Arms Control within the now-defunct NATO Directorate. She quit shortly before others would be notified of their dismissals to find new employment in the private sector. “We all knew no one was going to keep us in our positions,” she added.
The Directorate General for European Integration, which previously encompassed the EU Integration Department and the EU Assistance Coordination and Sectoral Integration Department, has also been abolished. In its place, a new Political Directorate of European Affairs has been established. Under this new structure, EU integration will fall under the responsibility of one of the directorate’s departments, while another will focus on bilateral relations with European countries. The Information Center for EU and NATO will now operate as one of four divisions within the EU Integration Department.
Political Leadership Changes
The reorganization process has also led to changes in management. Giorgi Zurabashvili, former Ambassador to Ireland who previously led protocol departments for the government and the MFA, has been promoted as GD’s First Deputy Foreign Minister – a position that had remained vacant since Maka Botchorishvili’s promotion as Minister, the MFA told Civil.ge. Lasha Darsalia, who served as First Deputy FM, overseeing the political, NATO, and international organizations departments before Bochorishvili’s appointment, was downgraded to one of five deputies.
Background
While reorganization has been used as a pretext to fire civil servants before, including within the foreign ministry, recent legislative changes have made dismissing public employees easier. That includes changes rushed through in December as part of other repressive laws, which, among other things, broadened the scope of ‘reorganization’ and eliminated the possibility of reinstating civil servants dismissed on reorganization grounds, even after successful legal appeals.
In May, the Georgian Dream one-party parliament also fast-tracked amendments to the Law on Diplomatic Service, allowing the dismissal of diplomats for “ethical standards” or for contradicting the government’s foreign policy direction.
Hundreds are estimated to have lost their jobs in what has been viewed as politically motivated purges in response to their open criticism of Georgian Dream’s policies. In April, TI-Georgia reported that since December 2024, up to 700 public servants have been reportedly dismissed from various state agencies on political grounds.
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