Kati Piri, Vice President of the Party of European Socialists (PES), says there is unanimity among the political union on possibly excluding the ruling Georgian Dream party from its ranks.
Another member of the Socialist Party of Europe, MEP Tais Reuten, also expressing her hope that Georgian Dream would no longer follow the path of Orban and Putin.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili reacted to Piri’s statement by saying that conclusions would be drawn within the party, “maybe before the meeting of the socialists in June.”
“We will not allow violence against minorities and aggressive propaganda against the majority of our population and our people. These rights are guaranteed by the constitution, moreover, we have enshrined all this by law, and there is no discrimination against a person in the country,” Garibashvili said.
The Georgian Dream Party is a member of the European Social Alliance of the European Parliament.
On May 4, the Party of European Socialists (PES) condemned Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s speech in Hungary and noted that it would consider suspending the status of Georgian Dream at its next session, which is a “necessary step.”
Garibashvili, speaking at an annual conservative political action conference in Budapest, said that the Hungarian people are very lucky to have “such a wise and far-sighted” leader. According to him, forces opposed to the truth are trying to achieve their goals with the help of LGBT propaganda.
Garibashvili argued that the vast majority of Georgian society shares traditional, conservative family values, and these values are not only a legacy of the past, but also a living present — an environment in which “we grew up and want to raise our children.”
Piri’s statement
In March the socialists were concerned about statements by the leaders of Georgian Dream about the “law on foreign agents”.
“It was not even the law that caused great concern, but what statements were made by representatives of the ruling party — the mayor of Tbilisi, the leader of the party and the prime minister. We were very concerned and in March decided to send a fact-finding mission to Georgia, but once we saw that it was acceptable for Garibashvili and his party to speak at an ultra-conservative undemocratic political congress, the fact-finding mission was no longer necessary. None of the members of the Socialist Party was satisfied with this action of the Georgian Dream,” Piri said.
According to Piri, the final decision to expel Georgian Dream will be made in June:
“I will lead the discussion among European socialists, my personal opinion and position will be to deprive them of their status among European socialists… We discussed this several times and felt unanimity in our political family. Statements directed against LGBT people and about the war in Ukraine [are iunacceptable]. In all the discussions that we held, no one stood on the side of Georgian Dream. As for the voting procedure, I don’t think it will be on the ballot. Not a single person supports Georgian Dream.”
