President Zourabichvili Urges Prime Minister Kobakhidze to Extend Transparency Focus
By Liza Mchedlidze
Monday, April 15, 2024
In a joint press conference following his meeting with Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sharply criticized the controversial 'Russian law' proposed by the Georgian Dream party. Chancellor Scholz expressed his hope that Georgia would reject the draft law, which has drawn significant concern from both the European Union and Georgian citizens.
"We are very critical, like the whole EU, of the law on so-called agents, and after this law was suspended, we very much hoped that it would not be on the agenda again. The new draft law, practically unchanged, is almost the same as that of last year, and we very much hope that Georgia will not adopt this law and that the parliament will take into account both our and the Georgian population's critical position," Sholtz said.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili responded to Chancellor Olaf Scholz's critical remarks about the proposed 'Russian law', noting that she anticipated such feedback as it echoes widespread concerns among EU officials regarding the law's potential to hinder Georgia's path toward European integration. She emphasized that if Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze truly prioritizes transparency, his focus should extend to the judiciary and government officials, not just foreign influences.
"What do you mean by 'not vetting'? If you want transparency, tell Scholz that I want transparency about judges, our former prime minister, or the future prime minister, and the chairman of the CEC, who is being appointed now. And it turns out he is accumulating capital. I don't know what it means. I've worked in various positions abroad for 60 years, and I haven't been able to accumulate capital in this manner yet, and they're aware of it.
This is the transparency that is really part of democracy that the public expects, and the public wants to know who governs, how they govern, where the money is spent. If you ask for this transparency from foreigners who have brought into this country 30 billion, if not more, that has been spent in healthcare, agriculture, education, schools... Here you want transparency, and if the funds went somewhere else, for example, let's take Gelati, the Americans paid, but the fraud was committed by the Georgians, and no one has been punished for it yet." said Zourabichvili.
