The Daily Beat: 3 November
At a cabinet meeting, PM Irakli Garibashvili presented a revised budget for 2024, announcing increased budget spending by GEL 700 million. According to PM Garibashvil, the allocation of an additional GEL 700 million will be sourced from the increased taxes on profits of the banking system and gambling business. Prime Minister claimed that the country’s economy has tripled under the Georgian Dream rule from GEL 27 billion in 2012 to an estimated 85 billion in 2024. The total unified budget is planned for GEL 28.5 billion.
Friday’s media discourse was dominated by talk of former United National Movement (UNM) chairman Nika Melia‘s possible split with the party. In his video commentary at the court hearing, jailed ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili said the party’s critics should probably leave, find their own path, and establish new political movements. Saakashvili’s comment fueled speculation that he was referring to Nika Melia, who is at odds with the current leadership of the United National Movement. Nika Melia claims that the major opposition party is controlled behind the scenes by former interior and defense ministers Ivane Merabishvili and David Kezerashvili.
In a separate statement published on his Facebook post, ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili claimed that the vast majority of the UNM party list should consist of people who have never been members of parliament, pledging to open the party gate for newcomers. Apparently, in his Facebook post, Saakashvili was referring to the 2024 parliamentary elections.
While the imprisoned ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili is becoming actively involved in Georgian politics, billionaire and founder of the Georgian Dream Bidzina Ivanishvili successfully imported several new baobabs from Kenya despite the ban. According to media reports, baobab-related complex logistics led to local road restrictions and electricity shortcuts, causing some inconvenience for the local population. The media reported that even trees along the roads were uprooted to clear the way for Kenyan baobabs from the port city of Poti to Ivanishvili’s residence.
Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili participated in the Conference on Europe, dedicated to making the EU fit for enlargement and hosted by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany in Berlin. The conference brought together foreign ministers from EU member states and candidate countries. Minister Darchiashvili assured journalists of Georgia’s important role in the enlargement policy, adding that Germany is becoming one of the main supporters of Georgia’s European future.
Transparency International-Georgia (TI-Georgia), an anti-corruption watchdog, updated its list of alleged high-level corruption cases involving government officials and their relatives. TI-Georgia’s updated list revealed over 150 cases of alleged high-level corruption involving judges, MPs, ministers, deputy ministers, and local government officials. According to TI-Georgia, although Georgia is characterized by “impressively low levels of petty corruption,” there is almost “total impunity for high-level corruption,” indicating “state capture.”
