Agreement on foreign relations

With 96 votes, on March 7, the Georgian Parliament adopted a draft bill pertaining to the parliamentary resolution on the main direction of Georgia’s foreign policy. The project was supported by both Georgian Dream MPs and the oppositional United National Movement (UNM). As experts point out, the two sides cooperated on this issue, representing the first successful move in the effort to harmonize relations between the two parties.

In fact, this resolution should put an end to the speculations about the orientation of the Georgian Dream once and forever. The topic, which was the subject of speculation for the UNM, should now be put to rest.

At the beginning, the UNM demanded that Georgia’s Western orientation should be included in the state constitution. Later however, the party agreed to support the adoption of a parliamentary resolution only. Thus, the Georgian Dream elaborated an appropriate draft project which was eventually adopted by the parliament.

As a political analyst Ramaz Sakvarelidze points out, the adopted document is for “domestic consumption” and is designed to put an end to the hysteria caused by the UNM concerning the political orientation of Georgia’s new government.

Meanwhile, opposition UNM members say, although they have supported this resolution, they will continue insisting on the introduction of a special paragraph in the constitution concerning this issue.

As some analysts observe, this tactic reveals the UNM’s general approach that they want to proceed with their program little by little to achieve some small results.