American Foreign Policy Council representative: 'Georgia no longer regional leader in democracy'
Laura Linderman on situation in Georgia
“Alarming signs of autocracy from Georgia,”—is how Laura Linderman, head of the Central Asia and Caucasus program at the American Foreign Policy Council, described recent actions taken by the Georgian Dream party.
In an interview with Voice of America, Linderman discussed the current situation in the country, particularly the tightening of legislation following the suspension of the EU integration process, increased administrative fines for protests, and the arrest of journalist Mzia Amaglobeli. Commenting on the latter, Linderman stated that these are “red signals pointing towards consolidated control and autocracy.”
According to her, looking at the South Caucasus, no one can say that Georgia remains a regional leader in democracy.
On the protests:
“First of all, you see the scale of the protest, its spontaneous nature. It was triggered more by the announcement of the suspension of European integration than by the [parliamentary] elections. And this shows how important EU integration is for Georgians. To me, it became absolutely clear that this protest is not linked to traditional political parties but comes directly from the people.”
On Georgian Dream government:
“There are real questions about the legitimacy of the [Georgian Dream] government. Many Western countries have refused to recognize its legitimacy. At the same time, they have not completely severed ties with it.
Georgian Dream effectively controls the entire government and state sector. It remains unclear how deep they will go into authoritarianism and how intense the pressure will be. I think we are witnessing a certain political deadlock, where the government wants to apply increasing pressure and then, at some point, loosen its grip to see if the protests subside. For now, it is unclear how events will unfold.”
Speaking about U.S.-Georgian relations, Laura Linderman emphasized that the United States has supported Georgia so far because it saw the country genuinely moving toward the West. However, now that the Georgian government has halted this course, Georgia’s significance for the U.S. will decline, affecting both political and financial support.
