Giorgi Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
Few events happen without political intrigues in Georgia. Ratification of the association agreement with the EU by the European Parliament wasn’t an exception. Both the ruling Georgian Dream coalition and the opposition United National Movement welcomed the ratification, but false notes could be heard in their voices, as the political forces are still opponents, trying to ascribe the triumph to themselves as exclusively their victory.
Supporters of Mikheil Saakashvili in the UNM believe European integration is their doing. “Europe recognized the reforms which we held, together with our leader, during ten years; that’s why Georgia achieved association with the EU,” MP Sergo Patiani told Vestnik Kavkaza.
A representative of the Parliamentary Committee for Defense and Security, Irakly Sesiashvili, opposed his colleague: “The European Parliament assesses positively the activities of the current authorities and our resolution to provide democratic reforms.”
On the historic day of ratification, both parties organized celebrations. Deputies from GD followed the process of voting live on TV in the cinema hall of the Georgian parliament; after ratification they stood up and applauded. The UNM deputies gathered in a hall where a big cake was brought, which was decorated with flags of Georgia and the EU. “It is such a sweet day that we’ve decided to celebrate it with a sweet cake,” the head of the UNM, David Bakradze, stated. Supporters of Saakashvili didn’t hide their pleasure at the double victory: their leader was an honored guest in the European Parliament and sat in the loge of the official Georgian delegation headed by President Giorgi Margvelashvili. They didn’t shake hands. Later, the former president said that he didn’t want to bother the current head of the state: “He is watched by the all-seeing eye of Bidzina Ivanishvili.”
Saakashvili’s presence in a loge for honored guests in the Strasbourg Palace confused the Georgian authorities. Four criminal cases have been initiated against the former president. He is accused of wasting budget assets and abuse of office. Recently, the prosecution service sent materials to Interpol, demanding Saakshvili’s arrest. But instead of arrest, the Europeans invited the former president to the session of the European Parliament as an honored guest. It seems they believe he is a victim of political repressions.
The EU and the European Parliament were in a false position: if Brussels thinks that anyway authoritarian government rules Georgia, which is repressing the former president and other opposition leaders (many members of Saakashvili’s teams are in prison at the moment), why did the European Parliament ratify the agreement? European MPs decided to adopt a special resolution criticizing the practice of “selective justice.”
However, the Georgian authorities don’t intend to change their approaches: on the ratification, one of leaders of the parliamentary majority, Georgy Volsky confirmed: “The law applies to everyone without discrimination, and Saakshvili will pay for his deeds.” Moreover, in the near future a fifth criminal case will be initiated against the former president – falsification and suppression of evidence in the case of the murder of the late Premier Zurab Zhvania.
Another intrigue was connected with the problem of who would go to Strasburg for the ratification – the Prime Minister who has real power in the country or the President who is a symbolic figure. The Premier Irakli Garibashvili stated that this time he asked the President to represent the country during the historic event. His “ask” means “order.” Previously, Garibashvili always stood for his privilege on representing Georgia in the international arena. But the Premier couldn’t sit in one loge with Saakashvili and “asked” the President to go to Strasbourg.
The ratification itself got lost in the knot of intrigues. Georgian European skeptics used the opportunity. One of them, the chairman of the Labor Party, Shalva Natelashvili, stated that there was nothing to be happy about: “Such states as Syria and Palestine signed the association with the EU a long time ago. And what?”
