Georgian PM Kobakhidze rejects Russian influence and embraces Europe ahead of elections

euronews (in English)

In an in-depth interview with Euronews, Georgia's PM Irakli Kobakhidze emphasizes the upcoming elections as crucial for EU integration and distancing from Russian influence, amid economic growth and political polarisation.

Transcript

00:00At a time of major political transformation, Georgia is going to the polls in one of the

00:05most crucially important elections in a generation.

00:09Euronews has already sat down with President Salom Zorabishvili, and I'm in Tbilisi for

00:15an in-depth interview with Prime Minister Irakli Kobakidze.

00:21Prime Minister, thank you so much for joining us on Euronews.

00:25It's a pleasure to be here.

00:26I know this is an extremely busy week for you.

00:29This is also a crucial time for Georgia as the country is heading into elections, which

00:36are seen as a decision-maker for the future of Georgia.

00:40For you, as a young Prime Minister, what do you see as the future of Georgia?

00:47First of all, thank you very much for this interview.

00:50It's a pleasure for me to be interviewed by Euronews.

00:52Thank you for your interest.

00:56We are anticipating really crucial elections for Georgia.

01:02We enjoy quite a rapid development in our country.

01:05We enjoy a rapid economic development.

01:07The country is developing.

01:08But the challenges are quite essential for Georgia.

01:12We are seeing very directly and very explicitly that these elections is also a referendum

01:18about the war on the peace issue.

01:22The Georgian dream government, we believe, is the strongest guarantee for the peace in

01:27this country.

01:28But it's also about the development of the country.

01:31We have, again, the rapid economic development that we want to keep this trend for Georgia.

01:38During the last three years and a half, we enjoyed almost double-digit economic growth.

01:45And we had the highest growth not only in the region, but also in Europe.

01:50The average economic growth in Georgia used to be 9.7% in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

01:58And also this year's preliminary figure is 10% economic growth.

02:02So for us, keeping this trend is very important.

02:06Also with regard to the European integration of Georgia, because we know that without proper

02:13economic figures, Georgia will never be accepted as a full-fledged member of the European Union.

02:18What is the level of dialogue then with the EU in terms of your EU membership?

02:24And what is the next stage of that for Georgia?

02:27Unfortunately, we are facing some challenges in terms of the dialogue at this moment.

02:33But in general, if we summarize the outcomes of our policies, Georgian dreams policies,

02:45the Georgian dream government managed to achieve all important steps towards the European integration.

02:53We managed to sign as a Georgian dream government the association agreement with the European Union back in 2014.

03:00We managed to sign the DCFTE with the European Union.

03:04We got the visa-free regime for our citizens.

03:07And finally, the Georgian dreams government managed to get the candidate status for Georgia.

03:13I strongly believe that as soon as these elections will be over, and as soon as the war in Ukraine will be over,

03:19we will essentially improve and restart the relations between Georgia and the EU and also between Georgia and the US.

03:27As a Georgian, what does Europe mean to you?

03:31And what would it mean to be part of that club that is seen as the European Union?

03:37To be part of the European family is a kind of historic choice for Georgia and for Georgians.

03:45You know that we are a Christian nation and Europe was always associated with Christianity,

03:53with defending and protecting Christianity for Georgia.

03:56So that's why Europe was always a kind of natural choice for Georgia and for Georgians.

04:02And that is one of the strongest reasons why we want to be the full-fledged member of the European family.

04:10Europe also means a higher level of prosperity, means development for Georgians.

04:16So that's why it's our very strong aspiration to move towards Europe.

04:22So that's why we are very much committed to this foreign policy priority of Georgia.

04:28The world has been debating the question in the East and both the West,

04:32and especially in your country, as you say, are you pro-Russian or anti-European?

04:38Can you put it to rest once and for all for us?

04:42We are clearly pro-European as a government and we have evidenced it by our actions.

04:50There are very specific actions through which we managed to move the country towards the EU.

04:58That's why there is no space for this kind of manipulation, but the opposition is there to manipulate.

05:05That's their choice, that's their job, that's part of democracy.

05:10We will continue to make everything to promote Georgia's EU accession also in the future.

05:17As well as talking obviously to the EU, which you are clearly doing,

05:20you speak to governments all around the world.

05:22When was the last time you spoke to the Kremlin?

05:26We have no diplomatic relations with Russia.

05:29Maybe Georgia is the only country in the region which has no diplomatic relations with Russia.

05:36And we have communication with our Western partners in Europe and in the US.

05:43So that's the current state of affairs.

05:47That's why there is also in this case no space for any manipulations.

05:52Well, this week again we've seen elections in other countries, in particular Moldova.

05:59There was a lot of controversy in terms of Russia's involvement in the political process there.

06:05Will we see anything like that come here to Georgia?

06:08You can say that Russia is not influential in Georgia.

06:15There are no political parties where they would enjoy their influence.

06:19There are no influential media channels with their influence.

06:25So that's why the Russian side cannot influence the elections in Georgia essentially.

06:33Looking in, it seems that you're matching certain Kremlin narratives

06:38in terms of some of the policies and laws that are being introduced here.

06:42The foreign agents law, LGBTQ.

06:45Is that something that you would say is following in their footsteps?

06:50These are the decisions made by the Georgian government.

06:53And these decisions have nothing to do with the decisions made by the Russian government.

07:00We have introduced the transparency law.

07:03And the content of this law has nothing to do with the content of the Russian law about the NGOs.

07:11This law is only about the transparency.

07:13The only thing which is envisaged by this law is to ensure that the NGOs are publicizing

07:20their annual financial declarations to the Ministry of Justice.

07:23And that's it.

07:24There are no restrictions.

07:26That's why this message about the Russian law was also a complete fake.

07:31The law about the LGBTI, that's also our national decision.

07:35When it comes to war in Ukraine, there seems to have been a shift in tone on that.

07:41You know, is Georgia seeing this as an opportunity to have its independent voice heard?

07:47And if there is an opportunity there, what is it for you?

07:50Well, in general, we are strongly supporting Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

07:55We have condemned the Russian military aggression many times.

07:59We have joined more than 600 international acts in support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine

08:06and condemning also the Russian military aggression.

08:10So that's why we can say very firmly that our position with regard to the ongoing war in Ukraine is very strong.

08:18And of course, this position is based on international law standards.

08:25Any war brings with it horrors that we see happening in Ukraine and Georgia lost territories throughout history.

08:33How did that shape you as a person and a politician in terms of your policies, you know, throughout your career?

08:43So we had a very complicated history, especially during the last 30 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

08:52But we also learned a lot.

08:54And this experience is something which helped us to avoid many problems during the last decade.

09:03And for me, also as a politician, this experience is very useful and very important.

09:09And again, so the entire team used this experience for managing the issues and for avoiding the war in Georgia.

09:18What does that mean for a country like Georgia that is surrounded by war?

09:23It puts us into a very complicated situation, of course.

09:27But again, despite all these challenges, we managed to keep peace in the country.

09:32How do you react to Western sanctions against Russia and what impact does that have on the region?

09:39I remember that the opposition was very much pushing us to join these sanctions.

09:46But we made a different decision and I can explain it very easily.

09:53The share of the Georgian trade and the entire Russian trade is 0.3%.

09:59Of course, Georgia cannot damage the Russian economy by introducing the economic sanctions.

10:05At the same time, introducing sanctions would mean escalation of the conflict.

10:12So that's why we had a very strong ground for not following this opposition's demand.

10:22But again, so we are doing our best not to let anybody to use the Georgian territory for avoiding the sanctions.

10:31Let's talk trade and energy security, which is very important for this area.

10:37You know, where does Georgia play into that?

10:39And the strategic location is crucial for Georgia, isn't it?

10:43Strengthening the connectivity function for Georgia is one of the key tasks for us.

10:48And especially under the new geopolitical circumstances,

10:52we can really essentially strengthen our connectivity function in this region.

10:59For example, we have very important strategic projects which connect us with Azerbaijan and Turkey.

11:05And there are some other important projects in this, for example,

11:08the Black Sea underwater electricity cable project and the internet cable project,

11:14which will connect Georgia with the European markets.

11:18And we are also investing a lot into the development of the infrastructure.

11:22We managed to build around 300 kilometers of highways in Georgia.

11:28Now we have ordered the launch of constructing a new port on the Black Sea.

11:33We are launching to construct a new Tbilisi International Airport.

11:38We are expanding the capacity of the Kutaisi International Airport, etc., etc., railway.

11:43There are many different projects which are also part of our program.

11:47And we are fully concentrated on this agenda for this country.

11:51Prime Minister, thank you so much for spending time with us today.

11:54It was a pleasure to meet you.

11:55Thank you very much.

11:56Thank you so much.

11:57Pleasure.

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