Opposition politician Popkhadze: Ivanishvili undermines Georgia’s European prospects

We should be grateful to Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the Georgian Dream  (GD) ruling  party for his deeds. But the country has no future with him. If he fails to understand this, we must make him understand, opposition MP, former member of GD, Gedevan Popkhadze, told Front News on Thursday. 

 

He stated that a large-scale June 20 rally in central Tbilisi demonstrated that the Georgian people had made a choice in favor of Europe. 

 

“The easiest solution is to change the government in six months and allow the authorities in office which would lead the country to the EU. We have no other choice. Why should we sacrifice the country’s interests to Ivanishvili?” Popkhadze asked.  

 

He stated that the current state authorities, “who are loyal to Ivanishvili,” are unlikely to take steps for Georgia’s EU integration.

 

“They [the government] have decided to serve Ivanishvili and not Georgia.”

 

“A solution can always be found if there is a resource for it. The June 20 rally showed that the resource exists. Georgians said that between Ivanishvili and Europe, they chose Europe,” Popkhadze said. 

 

He suggested that the government failed to properly react to the rally. 

 

“Following the rally either the President should have pardoned Nika Gvaramia [imprisoned head of the opposition-minded Mtavari channel], or the government should have had a proper response. However, the PM’s speech in parliament on Wednesday showed that they [the government] are not eager to change anything,” Popkhadze said. 

 

He stated that the PM had two phrases that were equal to “expressing love to Putin.” 

 

“These phrases are: they are forcing us to open the second front, and that we do not want to see the second Mariupol in Georgia,” Popkhadze said. 

 

He said that when the PM made such statements, he deprived the country of any European prospects.