Ruling party head: EP resolution on media freedom in Georgia “result of fakes”

The chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, Irakli Kobakhidze, said on Thursday that the recent resolution on Georgia in the European Parliament, which addressed the violations of media freedom and the security of journalists, was the “result of fakes.”

 

“The campaign to protect criminals and bring these criminals back to power has reached the European Parliament, one of the highest institutions in the European Union, which is very sad and disturbing,” Kobakhidze suggested at a special briefing today.

 

“The resolution called for the release of [former president] Saakashvili and [head of the opposition-minded Mtavari channel] Gvaramia, the enemies of Georgian democracy and media freedom. It has nothing to do with European values ​​and such a resolution, to put it bluntly, has a straw price,” Kobakhidze said.

 

He stated that “those lies” written in the resolution have created a negative background, but he expressed hope that the EU would make a positive decision on Georgia’s candidate status, following the country’s bid for membership earlier in March.

 

“It would be a fair decision for us, like Ukraine and Moldova, to be given the status. We hope that an unfair decision will not be made,” Kobakhidze added.

 

Today, on June 9, the European Parliament voted in favor of a resolution on violations of media freedom in Georgia and security challenges for journalists.

 

The resolution also included an amendment of the European Parliament groups – the European People’s Party (EPP), Renew Europe and the European Conservatives and Reformers (ECR), calling  for targeted sanctions on former Georgian Prime Minister and the founder of the Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili.

 

The amendment, introduced by the three groups, stated that the European Parliament “expressed its concern at the destructive role played by individual oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili in Georgian politics and the economy.”

 

“The calls to impose sanctions on Ivanishvili, who is completely distanced from politics and who restored democracy, media freedom and media pluralism in Georgia back in 2012, have nothing to do with European values,” Kobakhidze said.

 

 

The ruling Georgian Dream MPs have accused several MEPs, including those initiating the resolution, of “fighting against Georgia’s European integration.”

 

The opposition members said that the resolution included “only the truth,” and once again accused the authorities of “democratic backsliding.”