'Being the president in Georgia is dangerous, it's a matter of life and death' Opinion

Lasha Tugushi on impeachment of Georgian President

“In Georgia one president was assassinated, another was overthrown in a revolution, the third was jailed, the fourth is being impeached and God knows what else will happen. It is dangerous to be the premier of this country, it is a matter of life and death” – this is what Lasha Tugushi, Director of the European Initiative – Liberal Academy of Tbilisi, said about the initiative to declare impeachment of President Salome Zurabishvili in an interview with Palitra TV’s program “Daytime Newsroom”.

“Europe is in a difficult situation. On the one hand, it is in their interest, and naturally this interest is important to expand, but on the other hand, will it change anything on the ground? If you don’t do it yourself, no matter how much you like Borrell [Josep Borrell – President of the European Parliament] or Charles Michel [President of the European Council], they will not be able to carry out reforms in Georgia instead of your government… If they cannot agree with each other and unite for a common goal, history will condemn them.

The Foreign Ministry is lost in this process. We don’t take the Foreign Ministry as seriously as we should. Why? Because these 12 points [the recommendations for implementation that Georgia received from the European Commission to become a candidate country for EU membership] have been submitted to the Parliament, and the Foreign Ministry is practically left out of the picture in this matter.

In this situation, another big headache for the country will be that the majority will start the impeachment procedure against the head of state. It does not matter whether the impeachment will be successful or not, the main thing is that this process has started and it has started at a very difficult time. When, on the one hand, the President is traveling abroad to support Georgia, on the other hand, the situation is already extremely tense in the domestic political context. We can directly state that it harms the European aspirations of the country.”

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The ruling Georgian Dream party has announced that it is launching impeachment proceedings against the Georgian president. This was announced by party chairman Irakli Kobakhidze at a briefing. According to him, the impeachment procedure will begin in any case, although the opposition support in the Parliament is necessary for its realization.

In addition, according to Kobakhidze, Georgian Dream will appeal to the Constitutional Court regarding the president’s violation of the constitution.

The Georgian presidential administration issued a statement on August 30, according to which President Salome Zurabishvili starts meetings with European leaders in support of granting Georgia the status of an EU candidate country.

The Georgian government soon reacted to Salome Zurabishvili’s planned visit to Germany and explained that the president had been denied a visit to Ukraine as well as Germany. Zurabishvili was also denied meetings scheduled in Switzerland, Poland, Belgium, Denmark, United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Israel.

However, the Georgian president embarked on a European tour anyway. Zurabishvili traveled to Germany and met with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier there and later also held a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Lasha Tugushi on impeachment of Georgian President