Author: Georgi Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi, exclusive to VK
Georgian President Saakashvili visited Brussels in order to enlist the support of the EU leaders during the negotiations on free trade between Georgia and the European Union. Wilfried Martens, the Head of the European People's Party, invited him. The President attended the congress of the party, but the main points of the program of his visit were the talks with the EU leaders – in particular, with the chairman of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, and the EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. During the the Brussels meetings Saakashvili tried to link the issues of Georgia's security and its further integration into the Euro-Atlantic structures with the October "transparent and fair elections." He asked the European leaders to send as much as possible observers to Georgia in order to help organize the "most fair and democratic elections."
Saakashvili declared Russia the main enemy of Georgian democracy in general and of the parliamentary elections in particular.
First, he drew the attention of the European officials to "the unprecedented large-scale military exercises throughout the Caucasus and the Caspian region" on the eve of the planned Georgian elections; according to him, these exercises are conducted in order to "put pressure on voters."
Second, Saakashvili complained that a huge amount of money move from Russia to Georgia for bribing voters. "Somebody muddies the waters on the eve of the election and continues to attempt to buy votes, but these attempts are doomed to failure" - the president said, referring to Bidzina Ivanishvili, his main rival in the elections. The National Bureau of Enforcement of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia arrested the shares of the bank “Kartu” owned by the billionaire collecting a fine of $ 45 million for violating the rules of financing the political activity of the opposition coalition “Georgian Dream” just before the Brussels meetings
At the same time, Saakashvili expressed his confidence that the attempts of the enemies will not be the obstacle for the progressive movement of Georgia to the EU: "We are already negotiating on free trade agreements, which means the creation of tens of thousands of jobs for our citizens. Considerable progress in preparing the agreement on visa-free regime is made. Every citizen will have the opportunity to travel around Europe with a Georgian passport." According to Saakashvili, both the negotiation processes will be successfully completed in about a year and a half, that is in the end of his presidential powers: "I am sure of the choice of the Georgian people who often demonstrated his desire to be the part of Europe and civilized society and not to be bribed by the occupiers”.
Ashton and Martin Schultz promised to send to Georgia a lot of European observers. Moreover, most of them will come in July and August to observe the election campaign in the long run. A similar declaration has recently been made by the U.S. Ambassador to Georgia John Bass, calling on the Georgian authorities to "pass the test of fairness and democracy of the coming elections": "I have repeatedly said that the U.S. does not support a particular person or party in Georgia. We're trying to help the people of this country to improve its democratic culture, so that the citizens of Georgia were able to keep democratic values and to choose their own future. "
The Georgian authorities do not forget the military component of its cooperation with the West. Last week Alexander Vershbow, the Deputy Secretary General of NATO, arrived in Georgia for a two-day visit. Thanking the country's leaders for their active support in the Afghan operation of the alliance, Vershbow said that the NATO Secretary General planned to visit Georgia in September and repeated the well-known thesis about the inevitability of Georgia's membership in the alliance. "NATO is satisfied with the pace of the reforms in the sphere of security of Georgia and with Georgia's participation in the NATO operations in Afghanistan. Along with the reforms, all this will be the basis for the membership in the Alliance "- Vershbow promised. (Georgian contingent in Afghanistan has increased to 1,700 officers and soldiers, making it the largest of all the countries which are not NATO members). In Georgia, Vershbow attended the regular Batumi conference on defense and security with the participation of the representatives of the Georgian National Security Council, governmental, nongovernmental and international organizations. The Conference is traditionally held under the auspices of the Ministries of Defense of two countries. Thus, the Georgian authorities continue to demonstrate that they consider foreign policy to be an important factor which influences the coming election campaign; during this campaign both the authorities and the opposition, in particular, "Georgian Dream" and Bidzina Ivanishvili, should prove to voters that they gather the support of the West which is considered the main source of legitimacy of authorities and elites in Georgia.
