PM Appears Before Former Allies from FD at Confirmation Hearing

After meeting UNM opposition lawmakers as part of parliamentary confirmation hearings of the reshuffled cabinet, PM Irakli Garibashvili met late on Thursday evening opposition MPs from Free Democrats (FD) party.

FD party was a member of the Georgian Dream ruling coalition up until November, 2014 when its leader Irakli Alasania was sacked from defense minister’s post after accusing the government of politically motivated criminal investigation against several MoD and general staff officials, who were arrested in late October and who now remain in pretrial detention.

Garibashvili, who in November called Alasania “adventurer, stupid and ambitious”, referred to his former allies from FD party at a confirmation hearing on May 7 as “friends.”

“It is really very regrettable for me that you are now in the opposition. But it was your decision, your choice. I want to reiterate my respect to each of you,” he told FD lawmakers, who have eight seats in the Parliament.

“I think that there is a huge difference between you and those opposition lawmakers, whom I have just met [referring to UNM]. I do not think that we have fundamental differences in values – I mean democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of judiciary – we were fighting together for building such state,” Garibashvili said.

“When you quit the coalition you made groundless, emotional allegations as if Georgia’s pro-Western course was in danger. It was very regrettable. But I want to assure you that we all have common goal – that is Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration and return back to the European family,” the PM said.

“Of course we can have heated debates over various issues and difference, but I respect our common past, I respect our joint struggle against [Saakashvili’s] regime and I respect the victory that we achieved [in parliamentary elections in October, 2012],” he said. “I hope that unlike with UNM, our discussion will be constructive.”

Later during the two-hour long hearing, FD MP Victor Dolidze told the PM: “You started your speech with a very positive tone and you called us friends; I would have reciprocated and also called you a friend if not one very delicate issue.”

“We are on opposite sides of river after prosecutor’s office turned into a political weapon to fight against Irakli Alasania and Free Democrats,” MP Dolidze told the PM.

Garibashvili responded that allegations that criminal investigation against MoD officials was politically motivated were “utter lies” and “absurd”.

Another MP from FD Nino Goguadze told the PM that party’s decision to quit the Georgian Dream ruling coalition was “not just because of a misunderstanding, but because of very differences in our values.”

Like during the meeting with UNM MPs, the PM faced multiple questions from FD MPs on economy and depreciated Georgian currency lari, which lost about 32.5% of its value against U.S. dollar since early November 2014 when it started weakening.

Asked what was the position of Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia (GDDG), a leading party within GD ruling coalition which the PM chairs, about calls from political parties to change existing electoral system by either scraping or otherwise reforming the majoritarian component of elections, Garibashvili declined to specify.
 
“We already have intensive discussions within the Georgian Dream about electoral legislation; I hope in coming days or in several weeks we will present our vision about the electoral system. I would refrain from speaking about it now,” he said.

Pressed to specify what GDDG’s position on the issue was, the PM responded: “We should not do anything that will be unacceptable for the country; we should opt for maximally optimal change that will be acceptable both for opposition and the ruling coalition. We will present our vision on the issue in several weeks.”