The Daily Beat: 5 September
Parliament did not support the opposition lawmakers’ legislative initiative on the announcement of May 8 instead of May 9 as the Victory Day over Fascism. A bill intended to amend the official holiday list failed to pass as the ruling Georgian Dream party refused to participate in the voting. Later, the chair of the Georgian Dream majority, Irakli Kobakhidze, claimed that the draft law was not agreed with veterans, further accusing the opposition of splitting the society. Georgia still follows Soviet tradition and celebrates Victory Day over Fascism on 9th May.
Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili visited Budapest, where he met with his Hungarian counterpart Péter Szijjártóand, as an honorable guest, attended the annual gathering of the heads of diplomatic missions, addressing Hungarian diplomats. According to the foreign ministry press release, during the meetings in Budapest, the sides discussed a close bilateral partnership and Georgia’s implementation of EC recommendations. The Hungarian side also reaffirmed its steadfast support for Georgia’s EU integration.
United National Movement’s secretary for international relations, Zurab Tchiaberashvili, addressed the political assembly of the European People’s Party, highlighting the complicated situation regarding Georgia’s EU candidate status. At the assembly, Zurab Chiaberashvili announced the UNM’s intention “in these difficult circumstances” to visit the EU capitals and hold consultations to find a mutually acceptable solution for Georgia and the EU.
“Kula,” a major natural juice producer, has been targeted by Facebook users for using Russian lettering on apple juice packages. In an explanatory statement, “Kula” slammed the criticism, calling it a pseudo-patriotic campaign, shaming online critics for consuming Russian products such as wheat flour, sugar, sunflower oil, and gasoline. “As for the Cyrillic alphabet, apart from the occupying country, this alphabet is officially used in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and even Mongolia, where we export our products,” claimed “Kula” in its Facebook statement.
Data of the Day
According to the National Statistics Office (Geostat), Georgia’s annual inflation rate amounted to 0.9% in August 2023. Geostat reported that on a monthly basis, consumer prices increased by 0.7%.The annual inflation rate was primarily driven by price changes in miscellaneous goods and services (10.9% increase); housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (5.0% increase); food and non-alcoholic beverages (2.4% increase); transport (7.9% decrease); and health (7.3% decrease).
