In an interview with Euronews before the crucial elections, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze maintained that the current government is “clearly pro-European.” He vowed, “We will continue to do everything to promote Georgia’s EU accession in the future.”
PM Kobakhidze said that the fact of Europe’s association with Christianity is one of the reasons, if not “the strongest reason,” for Georgia to seek EU membership. He added, “Europe also means a higher level of prosperity which means development for Georgians.”
On relations with EU he said: “Unfortunately, we are facing some challenges in terms of dialogue at the moment, but in general, if we summarise the outcomes of our policies, the Georgian Dream government has managed to achieve all the important steps towards European integration.”
Meanwhile, he was quick to deny that the Foreign Agents law and the anti-LGBT law were modeled on Russian legislation. “We have introduced the Transparency Law, and the content of this law has nothing to do with the content of the Russian law about NGOs, it’s only about transparency… There are no restrictions. That’s why this messaging about the Russian law was completely fake,” he said. As for the anti-LGBT law aimed at suppressing sexual minorities, he added, “the laws about LGBTI, that’s also our national decision.”
PM Kobakhidze claimed, “Russia is not influential in Georgia,” adding, “There are no political parties in which they would have influence. There are no media channels with their influence.” He concluded: “So that’s why the Russian side cannot influence the elections in Georgia.”
PM also claimed that GD government “is the strongest guarantee for peace in this country, but it’s also about the development of the country.”
Irakli Kobakhidze repeated GD’s narrative about the elections as a choice between war and peace. He claimed credit for Georgia’s economic development to the GD government, saying, “Without proper economic figures, Georgia will never be accepted as a member, a full member, of the European Union.
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