Georgia's political direction to change completely
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva
Recent political processes in Georgia cause nothing but concern.
Today, the political circle in the country has closed - the current
government has sent the most popular minister of the "Georgian
Dream" ruling coalition, Defense Minister Irakli Alasania, into
retirement.
Georgian deputy prime minister, Minister of Energy Kakha Kaladze
does not exclude that other ministers of the current government
from Alasania's team, who headed the "Our Georgia - Free Democrats"
party will also resign. Alasania's friend and colleague, State
Minister for European Integration Alexi Petriashvili said that he
will resign today.
Another minister from the Alasania's team in the government,
Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze resigned Nov.5. The Minister of
Justice Tea Tsulukiani hasn't made any statements so far, however,
it is not excluded that she will resign soon.
But one of the major issues today is whether Alasania's party will
leave the "Georgian Dream" ruling coalition, which is also
possible. In case of making such a decision, the ruling "Georgian
Dream" will lose ten deputy mandates - and this will not allow the
coalition to keep the majority on the the parliament's member list.
This means that the ruling party will have very few maneuvers in
the parliament to adopt a number of laws. However, even this did
not prevent the government to make a decision on the minister's
resignation.
Alasania's resignation was preceded by a big political scandal,
involving the leadership of the Georgian Defense Ministry. On
October 28 five senior officials of the ministry were detained on
charges of embezzlement of budget funds. On October 30 the court
made a decision on their arrest. Alasania said that he is sure of
the innocence of the detainees.
Alasania links his resignation with his pro-Western orientation,
claiming that the current Georgian authorities conduct pro-Russian
policy, opposing Georgia's integration into NATO and the EU. He
urged the pro-Western Georgian forces "to unite in order to
confront the pro-Russian forces in the government." Alasania said
that Russia has "a concrete plan of destruction of the state
institutions that provide Georgia's integration into Europe and
NATO."
By the way, the President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili also
said about the connection of the resignation of Alasania with the
threat to the country's European aspirations, saying that the
situation "poses a threat to Euro-Atlantic integration" and
"Georgian army, which is the guarantor of the country's
sovereignty."
No matter how events unfold in Georgia, the only thing clear for
now is that the withdrawal of Alasania from the post of defense
minister will completely change the political direction of the
country.
Another confrontation in the lobbies of power, the resignation of a
senior official, who promoted the country's relations with NATO and
the EU - all of this will definitely trigger a reaction from the
West. Surely, when a person who has lobbied Western orientation of
Georgia for many years, retires, there are those, who need it. The
question is, who needs it and for what purpose.