Assessment visit to Georgia

Internal political tension between President Mikhail Saakashvili and the opposition has escalated to a point where the opposition has decided to go on non-stop street protests, and has vowed to continue as long as Mr Saakashvili remains in power. Since April 9th a crowd of protesters has been gathered in front of the Parliament demanding the President’s resignation. With a certain lack of news on Georgia in the Western media, the delegation aimed to get a more clear picture of the proceedings on the ground by way of the bilateral meetings described above.

 

On the first day of the mission the Forum delegation met with representatives of two opposition parties in the country: the Republican Party and the opposition Democratic Movement-United Georgia led by former Parliamentary Speaker, Nino Burjanadze. The delegation also spoke to the Deputy State Minister of Georgia on European and Euro/Atlantic Integration, and visited the National Democratic Institute and a representative of the European Commission delegation to Georgia.

The second day a visit was paid to two other opposition groups: the Alliance of Georgia, led by Georgia’s former UN envoy Irakli Alasania and the Labour Party, led by Shalva Natelashvili. The day also focused on meetings with civil organisations. Several NGOs were met, such as the Georgian Trade Union and the International Society for Free and Fair Elections. The mission ended with a meeting with the Union of Socialist Youth of Georgia as well as a relatively new group called the Center for Solidarity citizen’s movement -a civic group that eventually wants to transform into a political movement.  

Political and civil representatives in the different meetings argued in one voice that Saakashvili lost its credibility. After his grip to power due to the Rose Revolution Saakashvili promised to re-gain grip over Georgia’s territories and a peaceful settlement of both conflict, (South Ossetia and Abkhazia), to improve of the economic situation of the population, to strengthen ties with the EU and to get closer to NATO membership. After the lost war with Russia in August all this seems further away than ever.   

Therefore the opposition agrees that the country needs a political reform and constitutional amendments. However, the united opposition forces remain fractioned in terms of ideology, which is not well elaborated. It seems the one thing they firmly agree upon is that democratic change is needed and due to al the failure of Saakashvili the man should resign. Therefore, jointly they refused Saakashvili’s suggestion to a political, which lacks concrete proposals and therefore large-scale demonstrations should continue until the President resigns. Ye, the view of the parties what to do with the state after his resignation remains divided; should the state be a presidential republic, a parliamentary republic of be turned into a monarchy? All in all, the situation remains critical and also the population lost its trust in political life and do not identify itselves with none of the political forces currently active in the country –which tend to lean towards either the right or the left. Social democracy is not yet quite developed in the country and “ left” does not have the same meaning in Georgia as it has elsewhere in the West. The visit gave nevertheless a good overview of the different political forces in Georgia and of groups that might be potential partners.       

The delegation consisted of:
 
Katrin Saks (Head of Delegation), Vice-chair of Social Democratic Party of Estonia (SDE), Member of European Parliament

David Capezzuto, Political Advisor, Party of European Socialists (PES)

Thair Ismael, Program Manager, Olof Palme International Center, Sweden

Martin Janata, Program Manager, Renner Institute, Austria

Michèle Kahn, Expert CIS, Parti Socialiste Francais

Åsa Lindestam, MP, Swedish Social Democratic Party

Ilias Roubanis, Member of International Department, Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), Greece

Marina Ohanjanyan, Program Manager, European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity/Alfred Mozer Stichting

Marianna Tsirelson, Program Manager, European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity/Alfred Mozer Stichting

An entire report of the visit will follow soon.