How will Georgian government change?

Georgia may reduce the number of ministries, Georgian Minister of Education and Science Alexander Jejelava said today, adding that the decision on personnel changes in the Cabinet of Ministers was not made yet. 

At the same time, he confirmed that Prime Minister and his team are working in this direction. "We are discussing optimal structure of the government. We must try to ensure that our taxpayers' money are spent optimally. So I think that each individual department requires constant revision of this, including our sphere of education and science and the entire structure of the government," Georgia Online quoted him as saying.

"We know countries with even more ministries and countries will less ministries, but I don't think that significant changes are needed in this regard. I think in some cases the optimization is possible, but only without disturbing the pace of work," he concluded.

In an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza, head of the Global Research Center Nana Devdariani noted that right now, other representatives of the ruling party have not yet confirmed this information, adding that the optimization of the government would be a right decision.

"Firstly, right now there are a lot of bureaucratic expenses, and secondly, it is really possible to merge some of the ministries. The Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Culture, for example," the expert said.

In addition, she stressed that it is very difficult to predict how will the government change until we will know the results of the second round of parliamentary elections. 

Head of the Institute of Management Strategy Peter Mamradze reminded that the current state apparatus was expanded during the presidency of Mikheil Saakashvili. 

According to him, Georgian Dream did not change this situation in four years, although it was necessary to change everything the first year after coming to power. "Instead of 20 ministers, including the Prime Minister, we should have a maximum of 13," he explained.

At the same time, the analyst expressed doubt that the Georgian Dream will have enough political will to carry out a real optimization. "A lot of things must be changed. Unfortunately, I'm sure that everything will end with just a cosmetic repair," he noted.