Civil.ge

Government Crisis

28/04/2021 - 12:50

EU Delegation Welcomes Opposition MPs Entering Parliament, Rurua’s Release

27/04/2021 - 17:44

President Zurabishvili Pardons Giorgi Rurua

27/04/2021 - 17:42

Group of Opposition MPs Enter Parliament

26/04/2021 - 18:53

Melia Greenlights EU Bail, Condemns Amnesty Law

23/04/2021 - 23:19

EU-Brokered Deal’s Amnesty Clause Stirs Controversy

23/04/2021 - 21:48

U.S. Senators Introduce Resolution On ‘Full Implementation’ of April 19 Agreement

23/04/2021 - 18:39

April 19 Agreement: Melia’s Release Mechanisms Under Dispute

22/04/2021 - 12:25

MEPs Welcome April 19 Agreement

21/04/2021 - 12:25

President Michel Meets Georgian Dream, Opposition in Parliament

20/04/2021 - 18:44

President Michel Visits Tbilisi, Meets Georgian Leaders

20/04/2021 - 14:19

Saakashvili Says UNM Shall Sign Agreement after Melia Leaves Prison

20/04/2021 - 12:32

U.S. Welcomes April 19 Agreement

19/04/2021 - 23:17

President Michel to Visit Georgia Tomorrow

19/04/2021 - 16:15

President to Pardon Rurua if Parties Agree on Compromise

19/04/2021 - 15:38

Georgian Dream ‘Ready to Sign’ New EU Proposal

19/04/2021 - 14:36

Lelo, Strategy Agmashenebeli, NPC-Girchi to Sign New EU Proposal

19/04/2021 - 12:32

Georgian Dream Hints Signing New EU Proposal

18/04/2021 - 21:47

Opposition Cautiously Optimistic about New EU Proposal, GD Skips Mediation

18/04/2021 - 20:18

New EU Proposal: Amnesty for Rurua, Melia, 2022 Snap Polls if GD Gets Less than 43% in Locals

18/04/2021 - 17:43

EU, U.S. to Suggest New Agreement to Bridge the Crisis

Opinion

22/04/2021 - 14:11

Q&A | The Deal is Signed: What now?

After months of the deepening political crisis that followed the October 31 parliamentary elections, the ruling Georgian Dream and part of the boycotting opposition MPs signed the EU-mediated compromise on April 19. Yet, controversies persist: the United National Movement, the opposition party that got most…

18/04/2021 - 12:17

Opposition Politicians on Namakhvani HPP Protests

Thousands have been protesting in western Georgia against the construction of the Namakhvani Hydropower Plant on the Rioni River for months now. The project encompasses two separate HPPs of 333 MW and 100 MW on the Rioni River. The Government of Georgia hopes to enhance…

16/04/2021 - 22:25

Interview | On the Soviet Past, Myths and Relevance

The centennial anniversary of the Soviet occupation induced discussion in Georgia about the Soviet past, distinctly demonstrating that the opinions about the Soviet Union still differ in the society. As some experts argue, the Soviet Georgia is a largely understudied topic that requires a deeper…

16/04/2021 - 12:55

Interview | Turkish Ambassador on Bilateral Ties with Georgia, Namakhvani HPP

Thousands have been protesting in the western city of Kutaisi and the Rioni River Valley against the construction of the nearby Namakhvani Hydropower Plant for months now. The project encompasses two separate HPPs of 333 MW and 100 MW on the Rioni River. The Government…

13/04/2021 - 18:35

Q&A | How Can Gali Residents be Heard?

The tragic drowning of the four Gali residents who were trying to cross Enguri river towards the Tbilisi-controlled Zugdidi district has made headlines in the Georgian media. Their daily plight comes into sharper focus on the back of the news, that over three thousand were…

12/04/2021 - 12:10

From Khulo to Namakhvani to Gardabani, Georgia’s Activists in Spotlight

Georgia’s current political crisis pushes numberless pressing issues the country is facing into the background. Civil Georgia spoke to activists from different corners of the country, who alone or as part of larger movements, are mobilizing public opinion on issues like the rights of ethnic…

01/04/2021 - 14:32

Insight | Soviet Occupation Centennial Reminds of the Unresolved Past

On a melancholic day of February 25, Georgia marked 100 years since the Soviet army took over Tbilisi, ending the independence of the first, ephemeral social-democratic Republic. Georgia recaptured its statehood only in 1991, but even after 30 years, the shadow of the Soviet occupation…

18/03/2021 - 20:29

Q&A | Why is Georgia on EU’s Mind?

Georgia has been used to the EU being a concerned and sympathetic but relatively distant watcher of internal politics. The degree of engagement now – through Council President Charles Michel, mediation by special representative Danielsson, concern from all tiers in Brussels – has been surprising.…

15/03/2021 - 13:47

Ministers Reflect | Kaha Baindurashvili (MoF 2009-2011)

Ministers Reflect is a new interview series on “how to be effective in government”, following a model developed by the Institute for Government in London. The series seeks to capture – in former ministers’ own words – what it takes to be an effective government minister, what challenges…

25/02/2021 - 23:14

What Now? Experts on Ways Out of Georgia Crisis

Georgia’s post-election crisis, with the major opposition parties boycotting the new Parliament took a deepening turn after the Georgian Dream government opted to give orders to the police to storm the UNM party office to detain opposition leader, Nika Melia. Melia, charged with inciting violence…

25/02/2021 - 11:15

Editorial | For The Republic, Reborn

It was 100 years ago on this day, February 25, when one of the world’s worst totalitarian Empires has forced itself into the capital of the Democratic Republic of Georgia. Even though the battle continued for almost a month throughout the country, Soviet Russia has…

23/02/2021 - 13:46

Editorial | Time to Pull the Handbrake

The arrest of the opposition leader marks a turning point for Georgia. Not because cracking down on the opposition is exceptional in Georgia’s recent history – although the arrest of the opposition leader is. But because it is a culmination of a long trail of…

Op-ed

26/04/2021 - 18:32

Op-ed | Georgia’s Representatives Must Learn to Distinguish their Friends from Enemies

Author: Donnacha Ó Beacháin, Professor of Politics at Dublin City University Georgia is on our minds in Ireland but for the wrong reasons. Earlier this month, the Georgian ambassador, wrote a three-page letter to the president of Dublin City University (DCU) complaining that students taking…

29/03/2021 - 17:31

Op-Ed | Georgia’s Election Administration Needs Complete Overhaul

The ongoing post-election crisis, which had overshadowed many of Georgia’s more pressing problems, is awaiting a solution during the second cycle of EU-led mediation. The deal, if achieved, will likely encompass some short-term fixes and agreements on a range of issues. Hopefully, we can also…

27/03/2021 - 16:44

Opinion | How to Reset Georgia’s Foreign Policy

We have argued in the previous piece that the self-centered nature of Georgia’s foreign policy has outlived itself and can no longer protect the national interests adequately when both regional and international realities are changing. But what is the way out of this impasse? Author:…

19/03/2021 - 21:36

Op-ed | Crisis Must Bring Solutions

The government is afraid to use the word “crisis.” Why do they insist there is no crisis? Why do they seek and find the new words for naming something that is so simple, and lies on the surface? It took Charles Michel, a politician who…

03/03/2021 - 16:35

Insight | Georgia’s Political System Must be Redressed to Allow Compromise

According to one Georgian proverb, “you will see the road after a wagon overturns”, which preaches that catastrophe has to occur for the new horizon to appear. Sometimes the problem we encounter is so huge and systemic that we are not able to look past…

02/03/2021 - 14:34

Op-Ed | Time to Push for Consensus-based Politics in Georgia

In Georgia, political rivalry equals enmity. In the words of Game of Thrones’ Cersei Lannister, “When you play the game of thrones you win, or you die. There is no middle ground.” But as much some of Georgia’s historians would like us to believe, Georgia…

02/01/2021 - 13:03

Opinion | Time to change Georgia’s self-centered foreign policy

As the year wanes, the political context around Georgia is changing. Mass protests in Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, in Russia’s far-east, spread a breeze of transformation across the post-Soviet neighborhood. Festering regional conflagration also deeply changes the balance of power, creeping ever closer to Georgia –…

19/12/2020 - 14:22

Op-Ed | Georgian Democracy at Crossroads

By Jelger Groeneveld, analyst, foreign policy advisor in a Dutch liberal party This week ruling Georgian Dream announced it would seek to suspend state funding to political parties that continue their boycott of Parliament, by proposing the introduction of a bill to that effect. So…

13/11/2020 - 13:13

Opinion | Armenia may benefit from defusing the Karabakh bomb

Several years ago, when Serge Sarkisian became Armenia’s president, many Armenian friends of mine would remark, half-jokingly “its not Armenia that captured Karabakh, it is Karabakh that took over Armenia.” Indeed, many important positions in Yerevan were held by those who came from that region…

11/11/2020 - 16:51

Opinion | Nagorno-Karabakh: could there be a silver lining?

Yesterday’s agreement on the secession of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, signed by Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia is a victory for Azerbaijan as well as for its ally in this conflict, Turkey. And while Armenia is on the losing side, if its elite proves its mettle, the…

26/10/2020 - 19:22

Opinion | Georgians Need to Defend Their Democracy As They Defend Their Borders

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” The rise of Russia’s disinformation campaign in Georgia coincides with the country’s ongoing integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions. To derail Georgia from its path, Russia will most likely interfere in the upcoming parliamentary elections.…

23/10/2020 - 19:06

Op-ed | Time to Turn Georgia’s European Dream into Reality

Georgia has been striving for its European future since the very first day of independence. Shared values and positive dynamics in our relations made us strategic partners with the EU. The EU is an important contributor to the security and economic and democratic development of…

Analysis

29/04/2021 - 17:08

The Digital Divide: How the Pandemic Has Exposed Inequalities in the Georgian Education System

Author: Tata Burduli, Senior Researcher at GeoWel Research In March 2020, in response to the pandemic, Georgia’s 2000 schools closed their doors, and the country’s 600,000 students switched to online classes. Many of those schools remained closed for a whole academic year. While COVID-19’s effect…

26/04/2021 - 21:07

Moscow Wins from the New Socio-Economic Deal with Sokhumi

In November 2020, Sokhumi signed a program on the “formation of common social and economic space” with Moscow, envisaging harmonization of the Abkhaz ‘laws’ with the legislation of the Russian Federation. The agreement gave a rare occasion for Sokhumi and Tbilisi-based experts and civil activists to…

16/04/2021 - 22:25

Interview | On the Soviet Past, Myths and Relevance

01/04/2021 - 14:32

Insight | Soviet Occupation Centennial Reminds of the Unresolved Past

10/03/2021 - 16:13

International Women’s Day March in Tbilisi: Back to Basics

Terrified, scores of people listened in silence as women were sharing their recollections of grave abuses, standing in the front yard of the Government Administration in Tbilisi. The performance, involving actresses retelling true stories of sexual violence endured by minors was a culmination of a…

26/02/2021 - 23:30

In Stats | Georgia’s Year With COVID-19

Georgia marked on February 26 one year since the first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus. Civil.Ge offers a brief summary of one of the most challenging years in numbers. A year after revealing its first case, Georgia proper had confirmed a total of 270,137…

26/02/2021 - 20:17

Trends | Post-Election Shifts in Georgian Media

As often the case in Georgia, the end of the parliamentary elections marks series of changes in the Georgian media, which reflect the realignment of the political forces and the exhaustion of the projects and financing that are linked to the election season. Against the…

19/02/2021 - 19:41

Insight | Abkhazia’s Energy Woes

As if the economic and social problems linked to the pandemic were not serious enough, Abkhazia finds itself amidst a severe energy crisis. The region fails in curbing crypto-mining, overcoming the Enguri HPP shutdown, and effectively managing the Russian electricity received as a temporary alternative…

19/02/2021 - 15:14

Context | Garibashvili: Not a Man of Compromise

Irakli Garibashvili has been tapped as Georgia’s new Prime Minister, after Giorgi Gakharia’s decision to quit over the coming pre-trial detention of Nika Melia, the UNM chair. Georgia’s foreign partners so ardently hope for de-escalation of political tensions, but if the track record Garibashvili’s first…

15/02/2021 - 23:00

Insight | Online Education Leaves Georgia’s Poor, Rural Pupils Behind

The schools open in the country from today, as the government eased Covid-19-related restrictions. The Ministry of Education released the renewed recommendations and regulations for schools. Those parents who prefer to keep their children at home would be allowed to do so, the ministry says,…

03/02/2021 - 13:24

Suspense, Awkward Moments as Parliament Spring Season Opens

On February 2 the new convocation of the Georgian Parliament opened with its first session, adding a few more controversies to Georgia’s troubled politics. Blame it on the West The Georgian Dream MPs abstained from revoking the mandates of the 51 opposition MPs – from…

02/02/2021 - 15:53

Tumultuous 2020 – Survey Tracks Georgians’ Attitudes Towards Key Issues

The Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC), a think-tank, released the results of its nationwide biannual survey in Georgia – Caucasus Barometer 2020. First conducted in 2008, the survey covers a wide array of issues, including welfare, social attitudes, migration, health (COVID-19 crisis too this year),…

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08/03/2021 - 23:59

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