A congress of the Free Democrats party, a member of the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, will take place in Tbilisi on November 8. The congress will elect a new chairman. Or rather the founder of the party, Defense Minister Irakli Alasania, will become its chairman once again. He decided to become the leader of the party once again after he learned that the General Prosecutor's Office had become interested in a contract between the Ministry of Defense and a major communications services company, Silknet. Investigators suspect that out of 3 million euros paid to the private company a significant amount ended in the pockets of officials of the Ministry of Defense. Five senior officials of the ministry have already been arrested. However, so far they have been charged only with "embezzling public funds." The main question concerns the culpability of the minister, and it remains open. People who dislike Alasania argue that he will be admitted at least politically responsible - negligent and careless.The prime minister, Irakli Garibashvili, on air on the TV-Imedi channel, suggested that in the past months Alasania has been making anti-Russian statements in order to curb the corruption scandal in the Ministry of Defense and portray himself as a "victim of the pro-Russian head of government." Certainly, the prime minister did not spell out this idea as clearly and unequivocally, but it was too transparent a hint. In fact, since September, when investigators began to interrogate officials of the Ministry of Defense, the defense minister began to speak harshly about the government's pro-Russian direction. For example, he proposed establishing a camp in Georgia aimed at training troops to fight the regime of Bashar al-Assad and place Western air defense systems in Georgia. Whether there is a connection between the two is open to interpretation. But it is known that after the closest associates of Alasania were arrested, members of his team in the government (the State Minister for European Integration, Alex Petriashvili, and the Foreign Minister, Maya Panjikidze) expressed their support for the Defense Minister and spoke against his resignation. At the same time, the parliamentary faction of his party voted against a very important amendment to the law "On Electronic Communications", which would have allowed intelligence agencies to listen to the telephone conversations of Georgian citizens. Moreover, there is a possibility that the Free Democrats will decide to withdraw from the ruling Georgian Dream coalition at the upcoming congress. The Republican party of the Berdzenishvili brothers also recently expressed their dissatisfaction. The other day, the party issued a statement calling on the authorities to stop blaming the old government of Saakshavili for the country's problems. The party also require Georgia's accession to NATO to be spelled out as one of the main objectives of the ruling coalition. "We do not at all like the fact that there are people in the Georgian Dream who are against the pro-Western direction, that is, against accession to NATO and the EU," the founder of the party, Levan Berdzenishvili, told VK. "A member of our coalition cannot be against NATO and the EU. If he is, he should not be part of the coalition," the politician said. He highlighted the essence of the controversies in Georgian Dream: billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili established it as "common front against Saakashvili." It was a union of very different groups with different ideologies, values and foreign policy goals. Until recently, "the pro-Western group" was dominant in the coalition, but there have always been people who advocated a more moderate foreign policy, compromise and even closer ties with Russia. The issue became particularly topical after it became clear that the Agreement on a deep and comprehensive free trade zone entitles Brussels to unilaterally introduce a so-called "tax on the right to access the market" for Georgian agricultural products, while the Russian market remains open for Georgian goods. The chairman of the parliament, a member of the Republican party David Usupashvili, heavily criticized the actions of the prosecutor's office. He regards the arrest of senior associates of the defense minister with a Western orientation as a political issue. If the demand of the Republican party to sign an objective coalition agreement is not satisfied, it could openly act against the government without formally leaving the coalition. "They do not want to withdraw from the coalition, because they realize that their popularity is low," political scientist Giorgi Khukhashvili explained to VK. However, if the Republicans and Free Democrats are joined by the National Movement of Mikhail Saakashvili, who has just announced his decision to return to politics, as well as by the current pro-Western president Georgi Margvelashvili, the country might have to face a new balance of political powers. It is unclear whether the 32-year-old prime minister will be up to the challenge.
A congress of the Free Democrats party, a member of the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, will take place in Tbilisi on November 8. The congress will elect a new chairman. Or rather the founder of the party, Defense Minister Irakli Alasania, will become its chairman once again. He decided to become the leader of the party once again after he learned that the General Prosecutor's Office had become interested in a contract between the Ministry of Defense and a major communications services company, Silknet.
Investigators suspect that out of 3 million euros paid to the private company a significant amount ended in the pockets of officials of the Ministry of Defense. Five senior officials of the ministry have already been arrested. However, so far they have been charged only with "embezzling public funds." The main question concerns the culpability of the minister, and it remains open. People who dislike Alasania argue that he will be admitted at least politically responsible - negligent and careless.
The prime minister, Irakli Garibashvili, on air on the TV-Imedi channel, suggested that in the past months Alasania has been making anti-Russian statements in order to curb the corruption scandal in the Ministry of Defense and portray himself as a "victim of the pro-Russian head of government." Certainly, the prime minister did not spell out this idea as clearly and unequivocally, but it was too transparent a hint. In fact, since September, when investigators began to interrogate officials of the Ministry of Defense, the defense minister began to speak harshly about the government's pro-Russian direction. For example, he proposed establishing a camp in Georgia aimed at training troops to fight the regime of Bashar al-Assad and place Western air defense systems in Georgia.
Whether there is a connection between the two is open to interpretation. But it is known that after the closest associates of Alasania were arrested, members of his team in the government (the State Minister for European Integration, Alex Petriashvili, and the Foreign Minister, Maya Panjikidze) expressed their support for the Defense Minister and spoke against his resignation. At the same time, the parliamentary faction of his party voted against a very important amendment to the law "On Electronic Communications", which would have allowed intelligence agencies to listen to the telephone conversations of Georgian citizens. Moreover, there is a possibility that the Free Democrats will decide to withdraw from the ruling Georgian Dream coalition at the upcoming congress.
The Republican party of the Berdzenishvili brothers also recently expressed their dissatisfaction. The other day, the party issued a statement calling on the authorities to stop blaming the old government of Saakshavili for the country's problems. The party also require Georgia's accession to NATO to be spelled out as one of the main objectives of the ruling coalition. "We do not at all like the fact that there are people in the Georgian Dream who are against the pro-Western direction, that is, against accession to NATO and the EU," the founder of the party, Levan Berdzenishvili, told VK. "A member of our coalition cannot be against NATO and the EU. If he is, he should not be part of the coalition," the politician said.
He highlighted the essence of the controversies in Georgian Dream: billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili established it as "common front against Saakashvili." It was a union of very different groups with different ideologies, values and foreign policy goals. Until recently, "the pro-Western group" was dominant in the coalition, but there have always been people who advocated a more moderate foreign policy, compromise and even closer ties with Russia. The issue became particularly topical after it became clear that the Agreement on a deep and comprehensive free trade zone entitles Brussels to unilaterally introduce a so-called "tax on the right to access the market" for Georgian agricultural products, while the Russian market remains open for Georgian goods.
The chairman of the parliament, a member of the Republican party David Usupashvili, heavily criticized the actions of the prosecutor's office. He regards the arrest of senior associates of the defense minister with a Western orientation as a political issue. If the demand of the Republican party to sign an objective coalition agreement is not satisfied, it could openly act against the government without formally leaving the coalition. "They do not want to withdraw from the coalition, because they realize that their popularity is low," political scientist Giorgi Khukhashvili explained to VK.
However, if the Republicans and Free Democrats are joined by the National Movement of Mikhail Saakashvili, who has just announced his decision to return to politics, as well as by the current pro-Western president Georgi Margvelashvili, the country might have to face a new balance of political powers. It is unclear whether the 32-year-old prime minister will be up to the challenge.
