GD Ostensibly Moves to Simplify Firing Civil Servants
On December 9, Mamuka Mdinaradze, executive secretary of the Georgian Dream party and parliamentary majority leader, announced that “an amendment to the Law on Civil Service will be introduced, which will simplify the issues of reorganization in the public sector.” He said, “This solution will make civil service more healthy.” Governments in Georgia often used the formality of “reorganization” to create artificial redundancies and ease out the dissenting officials.
The Georgian Dream government has prided itself on the new Civil Service Law in 2015, which aimed at promoting a unified, professional civil service. To support the public administration reform in line with Georgia’s commitments under the EU Association Agenda, the government received considerable funding and technical assistance from the EU and other donors, such as the United Kingdom.
Responding to hundreds of civil servants dissociating themselves from the Georgian Dream’s turn away from the EU, on December 3, GD’s Irakli Kobakhidze stated that the civil service was going through a “process of self-cleansing.” He also said the dissenters were the “last resource” that the “foreign agents” and their foreign patrons were saving up to the last moment to launch “NatsMaidan.”
“The self-cleansing process has been very interesting. Of course, we’ve been watching everyone, and we will react to everyone’s actions. This reaction will be in accordance with the Constitution and the law, but there will be a reaction; I can say this with full confidence,” Kobakhidze said.
On the same day, December 3, President Salome Zurabishvili reacted, “They will fire everyone who signed the protests through “reorganization.”
Also Read:
- 28/11/2024 – GD Aborts EU Accession
- 03/12/2024 – Kobakhidze Alludes to Purges, Says Civil Service is “Self-Cleansing”
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