On the last day of the spring session, June 28, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze presented his annual report to Parliament. Most opposition members, with the exception of Girchi, were absent, as they have been boycotting the sessions since the adoption of the foreign agent’s law.
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Claiming Credit for Football Success
In his opening remarks, PM Kobakhidze congratulated Georgia on its historic victory over Portugal in the group stage of EURO 2024 and thanked the national team’s players, ruling party MP Levan Kobiashvili, who heads Georgian Football Federation, and Willy Sagnol, the manager, as well as Georgian supporters.
True to form, PM took credit for sports successes and slammed the previous UNM administration (which left office 12 years ago) for past failures in football. Riffing on the controversy about Budu Zivzivadze, who some fans suspect was benched for his political views, PM Kobakhdize said the UNM “government directly interfered in determining the team’s line-up.” He added that a football player should be freed from “the political context and concentrate only on the game.”
PM Kobakhidze also remembered to thank his mentor and GD patron, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who pledged GEL 30 million (EUR 10 million) of his charitable foundation’s money for the national team as a prize for advancing into the playoffs.
Angling for the analogy between GD and the Georgian football team, PM said “We had very difficult opponents… but the boys [players of the national football team] were not afraid, they stood their ground on both feet… Because the boys stood strong, we achieved success and victory. Wherever we stand on both feet, Georgia will win,” he said.
“We have two national tasks: to finally overcome poverty in our country and to unify our country… I believe that by 2030, we will live in a united Georgia with our Abkhazian and Ossetian brothers and sisters, and together, we will become a full member of the European Union,” PM Irakli Kobakhidze concluded.
Progress everywhere
PM Kobakhidze said he presided over progress in the economy, education, sports, health, etc. He drew flattering comparisons in each case with the UNM government that left office 12 years ago. The PM said the economic growth of 9.7% in 2021-23 was “higher than that estimated” 4.8% by the IMF.
Kobakhidze also said the unemployment hit a record low of 14% in Q1 2024, a four percentage point drop year-on-year. The PM said, “130,000 people got jobs,” and the employment figure of 1.4 million stands at a historic high.
The PM also praised advances in the economic fields of tourism, infrastructure, health, trade, and regional socio-economic development and promised to maintain the positive dynamic.
Foreign Policy
Just as Georgia’s Western partners are increasingly critical of the government’s steps away from the Euro-Atlantic path, the PM sought to allay the critics. He said EU integration “remains the main foreign policy priority” and repeated with confidence that “by 2030, Georgia will be prepared better than any other candidate country” for EU membership. Kobakhidze reminded that his first visit as PM was to NATO and said Georgia will continue “active cooperation.”
PM Kobakhidze said he seeks “the reset” in the relations with the U.S. and expressed hope for “reciprocal steps” from Washington D.C., claiming deepening of relations is “strategically important” for his country. Prime Minister argued that the government put in place an “effective policy” for preventing Russia from using the Georgian territory for sanction evasion, he said these efforts will continue.
He extolled strategic partnership with China and thanked Beijing for lifting visa requirements, noting that the number of direct flights has doubled. He also spoke highly of the decision to award the Anaklia port project to a Chinese company, saying its involvement is “very important,” including for attracting the Chinese cargo.
The PM said his government seeks “regional peace and stability” and pointed to his own active diplomacy and visits to neighboring countries. He said Georgia is ready “to support dialogue and constructive cooperation” in the region.
He noted with satisfaction that trade with Central Asia grew 50% in a year and visitors from these countries to Georgia by 30%. He also welcomed the deepening of economic relations with India.
The Prime Minister named the settlement of the Russian-Georgian conflict and the peaceful restoration of Georgia’s territorial integrity as one of the main priorities of Georgian foreign policy, stressing that Georgia continues to successfully pursue the non-recognition policy. He said protection of the rights of the people living in the occupied territories is something “the Georgian government is working on a daily basis.”
Kobakhidze said ties need to be maintained with the Georgian diaspora, but without mentioning their demand for opening more voting stations abroad.
Opposition Destructive
PM blamed the opposition for engineering “artificial” crises every year from the previous parliamentary elections in 2020, saying “the country could not calm down” because of that. In 2022, Kobakhidze claimed, the opposition “demanded” that the government join Western sanctions against Russia and send fighters to Ukraine. Reprising the usual line from the ruling party, Kobakhidze said the opposition wanted to drag Georgia into war with Russia.
He also reiterated that the government “has not received any argument” for failing to be granted the EU candidacy in June 2022, alongside Ukraine and Moldova, and said Georgia was more advanced than these two then, just as it is now. The PM again accused the opposition of angling for the coup after the failure to get the EU candidacy that year.
Regarding the “Law on Transparency of Foreign Funding,” PM Kobakhidze said its opponents “had nothing to say” as an argument to counter it and were instead spreading an “absolutely false message” by calling it “the Russian Law.” “Transparency is a European standard,” Kobakhidze told the docile chamber.
“Against the backdrop of these difficult events, we have managed to strengthen Georgia’s state sovereignty, and the law that you, the MPs, have adopted serves precisely to strengthen Georgia’s state independence, our state sovereignty, and I thank you once again for this,” PM Kobakhidze told the majority MPs. He got a round of applause.
GD to Announce Amnesty in Pre-Elections
In response to Herman Sabo of Girchi’s low-ball question regarding prison overpopulation, PM Kobakhidze pledged the massive amnesty of prisoners by September, a month before the elections. “We have 10,000 prisoners in penitentiary institutions, and it is important to reduce their number in the near future so that we come close to the European figure,” Kobakhidze said, adding that it would be “desirable” to reduce the number by a third.
In the opposition’s absence, the majority of MPs’ question-and-answer sessions derived into sycophancy and were full of attacks on the absent opposition and civil society organizations. MPs mentioned the “Global War Party” (which the PM did not), a conspiratorial scarecrow allegedly influencing official Western institutions in Georgia’s disfavor. They praised GD’s “strategic patience” and credited it with lasting peace.
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