Senator Risch: UNM was late to sign EU-mediated agreement

US Senator Jim Risch says that the main opposition party in Georgia, the United National Movement (UNM), was ‘late’ to sign the April 2021 EU-mediated agreement which ‘encouraged’ the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party back out of the deal back in July of the year. 

The UNM, which disapproved of a stipulation on the amnesty in the agreement proposed by European Council President Charles Michel, signed the document yesterday, after more than a four-month standoff. 

The party said that the government’s refusal to take the 75 million euro EU loan and the ‘critical economic, social and political situation’ in the country pushed them to take the step and ‘stand above the stipulation.’ 

The EU-mediated agreement helped Georgian political parties resolve a more than six-month political crisis which began after the 2020 parliamentary elections. 

The agreement proposed large-scale electoral, judicial and other reforms. 

The GD withdrew from the agreement ‘because the UNM refused to join in, while other opposition parties were ignoring the agreement conditions.’