Margvelashvili warns of future turmoil within government
By Tea Mariamidze
Friday, October 10
Conflict may emerge between the government and the president if the founder of the Georgian Dream coalition decides again to criticize Margvelashvili. This notion was voiced by President Giorgi Margvelashvili in the October 8 edition of Forbes Magazine Georgia.
Margvelashvili stresses that he is a member of the Georgian Dream coalition.
“Bidzina Ivanishvili criticized me, but I cannot respond to him, because there was no political context in his statements. It was not mentioned that I have a different political orientation,” Margvelshvili said.
According to the Georgian President, sometimes there may be differences between the statements made by the Georgian Dream Coalition’s leaders and him, but there will not be differences between their political orientations. “However, if Mr. Ivanishvili decides to criticize me once again, the criticism will cause turmoil,” Margvelashvili said.
Concerning the state strategy in different fields, the president stated that Georgia is undertaking a policy that was elaborated 2 years ago. He states that Georgia has not changed its attitudes towards the EU and Russia.
“Restoration of the export of Georgian products to the Russian market will not affect our EU integration,” the president said, adding that the Russian president is an interesting figure for him.
“I do not know him personally, but he is an interesting person for me, as he is a politician who can solve very painful issues for my country. I hope that he will act reasonably, taking Georgian and Russian interests into account,” Margvelashvili said.
Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili refrained from making a comment concerning the relations between the government and the president, just stating that all the controversy between the two leading politicians has already ended.
Analyst Kakha Gogolashvili thinks that Ivanishvili still has a serious influence on the government.
“It is a fact. It is not a good thing, as politicians should have their own unbiased views,” Gogolashvili said.
Fellow analyst Tornike Sharashenidze believes that there is a very strange situation in Georgia. According to him, Ivanishvili is supported by Georgians, has an influence on the Georgian Dream coalition and at the same time takes no official post.
“It would be better if Ivanishvili were prime minister again. All the question marks would be removed then,” Sharashenidze said.
