Georgian PM: strengthening democratic institutions will bolster Georgia’s foreign policy positions

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Thursday said that the strengthening of Georgia’s democratic system would enhance the country’s foreign policy positions.

In his interview with Imedi TV, Kobakhidze stressed that certain political groups still hope to overturn the government through anti-state forces, either by elections or by other means - attempts, which, he noted, have failed every time.

“They have lost every election, despite the fact that the EU Ambassador was directly involved in the campaign in favour of the collective United National Movement [opposition]. They couldn’t achieve anything in the streets either, despite the fact that we were denied [EU membership] candidate status and countless injustices were committed against our country and people. As soon as our democratic and political system is strengthened, our overall positions will be strengthened as well”, the PM said.

Drawing a parallel with the domestic transparency law, the Prime Minister noted that his Government deliberately chose confrontation to expose what he called a “false narrative” maintained by certain NGOs.

“For years, our society lived in a total farce - a few NGOs were being called ‘civil society’. What kind of term is that? We were forced to tolerate the absurd notion that a handful of foreign-funded activists spoke on behalf of 3.7 million citizens”, he continued.

He further added that “everyone sees now that these NGOs were, in fact, foreign agent networks”.

Kobakhidze went on to say that recent revelations from the Trump administration confirmed that organisations such as USAID and NED had funded groups involved in attempts to destabilise countries and stage revolutions.

“The fact that these organisations are now weakened is a very serious outcome. The foreign agent network has been weakened as a result of this [transparency] law”, Kobakhidze concluded.