The Georgian people and not the United States should determine whether the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, is an oligarch, US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan told Formula TV on Monday.
Speaking about the de-oligarchization law, which is one of 12 conditions set by the EU for Georgia to receive its membership candidate status next year, Degnan said that such a law should address the “root cause which is undue influence, money or personal influence, affecting political, judicial and official processes”.
“There are other countries that are struggling with a similar challenge. Each country should find its own formula to solve this situation”, Degnan said.
The Ambassador reiterated that her meeting with Ivanishvili in March 2021 “in no way” concerned the latter’s financial issues which could be perceived as a pressure on him to drag Georgia into Russia’s war in Ukraine, as former MPs of the ruling party claimed.
"I do not want to make assumptions about Mr. Ivanishvili's motives [when he said earlier this month that Degnan invited him for a meeting in March, without providing any other details]”, Degnan said.
“I confirmed that we met and talked about the US-Georgia partnership and many other areas where America is trying to support the development of Georgia. Obviously, Mr. Ivanishvili is a very influential Georgian, a very successful businessman, and therefore it is normal that we want to meet with him, as with many other citizens of Georgia. In fact, this is what diplomats do, our task is to meet as many different representatives of a country as possible," said Degnan.
Former MPs of the GD, who left the ruling party earlier this year “to tell the public the truth”, had accused the Ambassador of exerting pressure on Ivanishvili for the latter to force the Georgian Government to draw Georgia into the war.
The opposition said that the former MPs of the GD“are voicing Ivanishvili “ and that their activities “are the part of Ivanishvili’s and the ruling party’s anti-Western campaign”.
