Opinion: “Georgia’s EU membership chance is on hold — and the only reason is Ivanishvili”
Opinion on Georgia’s EU integration
“Two billion euros that were supposed to go to Georgia ended up in Moldova because the Georgian government refused to make the key decisions needed to implement them,” says political analyst Vano Machavariani.
He adds that Georgia’s historic chance to join the EU is now on hold, and the main reason is the country’s informal ruler, Bidzina Ivanishvili, who aims to stay in power indefinitely.
According to Machavariani, Georgia is now in a situation similar to that of Belarus and Azerbaijan.
Vano Machavariani:
“Today, everything related to the European Union has been put on hold in Georgia. Many regional programs have stopped, and while some funding may not have been suspended, the €2 billion that Georgia was meant to receive went to Moldova. Moldova has never received such grants before — all because aid to Georgia was halted.
Those €2 billion went to Moldova because the Georgian government refused to make key decisions that, as they know, could have been implemented. Last year, election banners read ‘Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia,’ but today they only say ‘Georgian Dream.’”
“If they really wanted to achieve concrete results with the EU, they would listen to European leaders who speak about specific issues and concrete demands. Instead, they are missing this historic opportunity, and the sole reason is Bidzina Ivanishvili, who has his own vision of how to handle the situation to remain in power indefinitely.
I don’t think [Prime Minister] Kobakhidze, [Parliament Speaker] Papuashvili, and others are comfortable with anti-European, anti-Western, and anti-Georgian narratives spreading in Georgia, portraying Europe as the enemy while Russia and others aren’t so bad. I also don’t think this resonates with the Georgian public, so ‘Dream’ could face problems, including in local elections.
If you ask Kobakhidze, he’ll say that [PAСE resolutions on Georgia] have no value. But if you ask the rest of the world, which is part of the European political space, it matters a lot. The outcome is that we’ve become like Belarus and Azerbaijan, and that’s not an easy situation.”
