Thursday

28th Sep 2023

Interview

Georgia's PM lays out European 'dream'

  • Ivanishvili at his summer residence in Ureki, on Georgia's Black Sea coast (Photo: EUobserver)

Georgia's billionaire-Prime-Minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, has a "dream" for his country's future. But opponents say he is a danger to democracy.

Ivanishvili spoke to EUobserver in a recent interview at his summer residence in Ureki, on the Black Sea coast.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

He said he wants to transform Georgia into a "typically European" society and into a Dubai-type business hub between Europe and Asia.

"It's my dream. There is a possibility, if everything develops ideally. Of course, I don't want to say this too loudly in order not to be laughable. But deep down in my heart, I believe … the possibility exists," he noted.

The soft-spoken, 57-year-old businessman made his fortune in metals and banking in 1990s Russia.

He entered politics in 2011 and he unseated the centre-right UNM party of President Mikhail Saakashvili in a free election in 2012.

He told this website it might take "20 years" to make his dream a reality.

He also said he will step down as PM "before the new year" in order to work with NGOs to implement his master plan.

The plan is to purge Georgia of high-level corruption, to build decent schools, hospitals and roads and to attract foreign investors and tourists.

Since coming to power, Ivanishvili's prosecutors have indicted five UNM ex-ministers and scores of officials and local councillors on charges ranging from misuse of public funds to bribery and contract killings.

The new PM has promised to destroy Saakashvili's "black boxes" - illegal wiretaps, secret videos and data gathered in a mass internet surveillance programme.

He said the snooping operation is "reminiscent of George Orwell's '1984'," a British novel about totalitarianism.

He added that Saakashvili himself might face trial when his presidential immunity expires in October. "Politically, it is not my desire … But the rule of law applies to everyone," he said.

To maintain credibility, he has invited a crowd of foreign monitors, such as Thomas Hammerberg, a Swedish diplomat and Nobel laureate, to oversee his actions. He also threw the book at two of his own ministers who broke the law.

In the economic sphere, he has created two sovereign funds and a private-sector investment fund, which he says will reach $10 billion by the end of the year.

In international relations, he is on the way to initialing an association and free trade pact with the EU in November and he expects to see "a serious step forward" in Georgia-Nato integration in 2014.

He has also improved ties with Russia.

On the one hand, Russia is tightening its military grip on Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. But on the other hand, it has lifted a trade ban on Georgian mineral water and wine.

Ivanishvili said the more Georgia prospers, the greater the chance Abkhazians and South Ossetians will seek reunification.

"To bring back our brothers, we need to convince them that it's in their interest to live with us," he noted.

Referring to his personal contacts with the Russian elite, he said that "a talented and smart intelligentsia" is slowly changing Russia's "sickly" attitude to its former republics.

Hot snow

But for its part, the UNM party believes Ivanishvili has a more sinister agenda.

Giga Bokeria, a UNM leader and the outgoing head of Georgia's National Security Council, told EUobserver in Tbilisi that the prosecutions of ex-ministers is "selective justice … with the goal of destroying a major political party."

He admitted the UNM in its nine years in charge made a "grave mistake" by giving too much power to security services.

He described UNM-era incidents of police brutality, torture of prison inmates and the mass snooping operation as "shameful … disgusting."

But he noted: "Tyrannies don't lose elections. They don't concede election results. It's an oxymoron, like hot snow."

He added: "Overall, Georgia was moving toward a liberal democracy … It was a free country. But now I believe there is a real threat."

Bokeria accused Ivanishvili of planning to rule Georgia from behind the scenes after he steps down as PM.

"He wants a puppet government and a balkanised political system, with many weak parties. This would make him invincible in his palace … This is the classic dream of a 1990s' oligarch," he said.

He added: "A democracy where the legitimate players are weak and someone outside the system pulls the strings is not a real democracy."

In Europe, the UNM's main ally, the EPP group of centre-right political parties, has also damned Ivanishvili for using courts for political revenge.

Some EU diplomats remain agnostic, however.

One EU contact, who asked not to be named, said that Saakashvili "monopolised power" and that Georgia now has "an opportunity to become a deep democracy." But he voiced doubt whether Ivanishvili is the right man for the job.

"He is not the first big businessman who, in his mid-50s, wants to prove to himself that he can also do politics. He is learning fast, but he doesn't have the political experience. He doesn't know all the traps," the contact said.

Knowing the traps

For Bokeria, Ivanishvili has already walked into one pitfall.

He said the PM has given a free rein to populist and far-right elements in his coalition, who say liberal EU values are incompatible with Georgia's Russian Orthodox identity.

He noted that "Orthodox fundamentalist" groups have "mushroomed" in the new political climate.

He also said that Ivanishvili freed from jail dozens of far-right "thugs" whom he labelled as Saakashvili's "political prisoners."

Bokeria, in his role as Georgia's top security advisor, said some of the same men almost beat to death a handful of pro-gay-rights protesters in Tbilisi in May, while Orthodox priests and the police looked on.

Ivanishvili later wrote an op-ed for EUobserver promising to protect minorities.

But Bokeria noted that the PM's domestic statements were "ambivalent" and that nobody faced justice for the assault.

"If they continue tolerating these kinds of groups and praising these kinds of people as heroes, then our country will go to hell," he said.

Opinion

Defending human rights in Georgia

Earlier this month, a small gathering by LGBTI activists was met with a 20,000-strong protest march in Tbilisi. The clashes highlighted the resistance to change in some parts of Georgian society, but they also demonstrated that change is afoot.

EU’s €500m gender violence plan falls short, say auditors

The 'Spotlight Initiative' was launched in 2017 with a budget of €500 million to end all forms of violence or harmful practices against women and girls in partner countries, but so far it has had "little impact", say EU auditors.

Latest News

  1. Poland's culture of fear after three years of abortion 'ban'
  2. Time for a reset: EU regional funding needs overhauling
  3. Germany tightens police checks on Czech and Polish border
  4. EU Ombudsman warns of 'new normal' of crisis decision-making
  5. How do you make embarrassing EU documents 'disappear'?
  6. Resurgent Fico hopes for Slovak comeback at Saturday's election
  7. EU and US urge Azerbijan to allow aid access to Armenians
  8. EU warns of Russian 'mass manipulation' as elections loom

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  2. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  3. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  4. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us