Ivanishvili is positive about the Reshuffle in Government
By Tea Mariamidze
Tuesday, May 5
Former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili thinks that the appointment of two Republican Party members in the government indicates the stability within the Georgian Dream Coalition (GD).
The current Prime Minister, Irakli Garibashvili, named a new Defence Minister in Tina Khidasheli and MP Gigla Agulashvili as the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Protection on May 1st.
Both are the members of The Republican Party, which, according to Ivanishvili, indicates the importance of every party within the coalition.
“When the Free Democrats left the coalition, there were rumours that the coalition was about to break, but it is clear that the Republicans remain as the members of our team and the coalition is very healthy,” ex-PM stated.
He also welcomed the fact that the Defence Minister is a woman an unprecedented appointment in Georgia, but one that Ivanishvili feels reiterates the Georgian European identity due to the appointment of women in similar positions within EU countries.
According to him, “this appointment underlines the fact that we are Europeans and are going to return to our family.”
Ivanishvili also touched upon the current misunderstanding between the government and President of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili, who did not approve of frequent changes in the government and stated that he was delaying his signature on the offered list of cabinet members for a week, in order to give the government more time to reconsider the issue.
The former PM stressed that Georgia has the most unpredictable President in world history, who has had confrontations with the government from the beginning of his tenure.
“Margvelashvili has showed his true character in his pursuit of this absurd policy,” said Ivanishvili.
He also promised to discuss the details of the issue concerning the Presidential Residence, which has become the subject of disagreement between the ex-PM and President Margvelashvili lately.
It should be mentioned that Giorgi Margvelashvili was the favoured candidate for the Presidency before the elections, and the billioner did his best to help Margvelashvili win the office, but after becoming the leader of the country Margvelashvili has changed his views in many directions, which did not coincide with Ivanishvili’s opinions. Since then he has criticized the President nearly in all his statements.
