Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Well, for more on this now, let's speak to Tornike Gordadze, Georgia's former Europe
00:04minister and a fellow at the Jacques Delors Institute.
00:08He joins us now on the line.
00:11Thank you for speaking with us, Mr. Gordadze.
00:13First off, quite simply, your reaction to these new rules restricting contestation against
00:20the ruling government?
00:23First of all, Mr. Kavalashvili is not considered as a legitimate president by most of the Georgians.
00:34He's called a de facto president by the Georgians.
00:37And even when the EU or United States address him, they call him or the new prime minister
00:45as the representatives of the ruling party Georgian Dream.
00:49So his decisions are not considered as legitimate by most of people who are demanding, who are
00:56asking for new elections.
00:59Mr. Kavalashvili was chosen by this billionaire, Bidzina Ivanishvili, to destroy any independent
01:08institution in this country and to leave Mr. Ivanishvili as the only source of power.
01:13Mr. Kavalashvili was a football player, as your journalist said before.
01:19He has no education, no diploma.
01:24His application was rejected when he applied to be the president of the Football Federation
01:31of the country.
01:32So his decision to sign these new draconian laws are not recognized as legitimate by people.
01:40But it is clearly the copy of the repressive draconian laws that exist in Russia and Belarus,
01:48and of course these laws and amendments aimed at destroying the protests that we see in
01:56the streets of Tbilisi for two months now every day.
02:00Even yesterday there was, yesterday evening, a huge rally.
02:03And tonight most of the population of this city will celebrate the new year in the streets
02:09of Tbilisi in front of the parliament and demanding again for new elections.
02:15You were a Europe minister in Georgia.
02:18Adhesion to the EU has a lot of popular support.
02:21We mentioned it in our package earlier.
02:23About 80% of the population is in support of it.
02:26What happens to that movement now in the face of such repression?
02:31The movement will continue, and people will staunchly continue to come and to rally every
02:39day.
02:40I'm not sure the regime is able to enforce all these draconian laws, because so far we
02:46have 51 political prisoners since the rallies have started, people who are accused preparing
02:54coup d'etat.
02:57Some of them, you see, 18 years old kids or some very young protesters of 20, 24 years
03:04old, some of them.
03:06And they are facing charges that can, you know, they can be sentenced to seven, nine
03:13years of prison.
03:14But it didn't stop Georgians from rallying.
03:18And if the regime continues arresting people, it will bring more people in the streets.
03:23That's why I'm doubting how they will be able to implement all these amendments that
03:31they brought to the law.
03:33Just for the formal side of this, of this event, Mr. Kavalashvili was given a few hours
03:39to read 28 new amendments that were prepared for him.
03:44I'm sure he even didn't read it, considering the speed he can also, I know, in reading
03:52documents or understanding them.
03:54And one of the representatives of the ruling party, when he was asked, did the president
04:00really read all these 28 amendments?
04:02He said, ironically, yes, he read and even he understood them.
04:07So you see the tragic, tragicomic situation in Georgia regarding this new self-proclaimed
04:14president.
04:15We mentioned the man backing the Georgian Dream Party and the new president, the billionaire
04:21oligarch with ties to the Kremlin, Bedzina Ivanishvili.
04:26What can you tell us about him more than what we know?
04:29What are his real motivations here?
04:31Is he a real staunch defender of conservative values, as Georgian Dream Party professes
04:37that he is?
04:38Or what are their economic motivations behind, behind his actions?
04:45Look, when it comes to the values, this party, Georgian Dream, has started in 2011, 2012
04:52to be a left-wing populist party.
04:55They were promising free money for everyone, raising salaries and pensions, etc.
05:03And in a few years' time, from the left, they became far-right party.
05:07And now they are associated with AfD in Germany and Viktor Orban's far-right Fidesz party.
05:15So the ideology doesn't really mean anything for them.
05:18The only reason they are now conservative is because they lost the support of all mainstream
05:26forces and in their populist stance now they criticize the European Union and they try
05:36to scare Georgian population, saying that our European Union means LGBT rights, the
05:44same-sex marriage, war with Russia, etc.
05:48So these conservative values are just instrumentalized by this government to keep power.
05:55And Mr. Ivanishvili personally has ties with Russia.
05:59He was recently sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury, Treasury Department, under the register of
06:06Russia's, Russian influence agents.
06:10So it shows clearly his ties with the Russian Federation and the Russia's influence on their
06:19neighbors.
06:20Tornike Gordadze, thank you so much for your insights.
06:24That's all we have time for, unfortunately.
06:26As a reminder, you are Georgia's former Europe minister and a fellow at the Jacques Delors Institute.