Georgian Dream and its promises

Several issues have been highlighted by the Georgian Dream coalition prior to the October 1, 2012 Parliamentary Election. The most acute was the promise to improve the welfare of the population and here Bidzina Ivanishvili honestly stated that the first several years would be of slight improvement; whereas in the third year, things will go much better. As for the fourth year, the situation will be really good in Georgia.

This part of the promise should be reinforced by the improvement of the situation in the economic field and agricultural sector. Some modest steps have already been taken in this direction. Pensions were increased for all pensioners, and a further increase is also promised from September. Serious steps have been made in the agricultural sector. Farmers received the opportunity to access technical facilities, agricultural machinery, fertilizers, etc. Programs of irrigation and other details are also supported by the state.

The next issue was the foreign policy of the country. There were different directions in this regard – improvement of relations with Russia, promotion of Georgia’s European integration and the fulfillment of Georgia's NATO commitment. Slowly but steadily steps have been made in this direction. The first successful step is the fact of re-opening the Russian market for Georgian agricultural products, alcohol – wines mainly, and mineral waters. It could be guessed that this direction also is closely connected with agriculture and the overall welfare of the population. It should also be mentioned that negotiations over the entry of Georgian agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables are also underway.

The most interesting part of Georgian Dream coalition’s promises was the restoration of justice in the country. During the previous regime there were serious cases of abuse of human and property rights. A full-scale amnesty has taken place by the end of last year as a serious relief for the groups of people who had suffered from injustice. It was admitted by the Parliament members that political prisoners existed in the country which have now been released via the amnesty initiative. Now the cases of abuse of private property rights during the United National Movement (UNM) governance hope to have their properties returned. But again it should be repeated that the segments of the Georgian Dream promises are facing problems which are not that easy to overcome in the short period of time.