Irakli Kobakhidze: Those Actions Were Held in a Slavish Attitude

If the demonstration gathered thousands of people, the authorities brought employees of budgetary organizations from all regions of Georgia to Tbilisi. Before the buses departed from the districts, representatives of the City Hall verified that all civil servants listed had arrived.

The head of the government delivered anti-Western messages at the ruling Georgian Dream meeting.

"When a country becomes a member of the European Union, not only does the European Union welcome that country into its home, but that country also welcomes the European Union into its home. Therefore, Georgia has every right to ask the European Union to respect our sovereignty and values before entering our home.

...we cannot agree to any demand that implies compromising Georgia's independence.

Since 2020, the radical opposition and related NGOs have attempted to stage a revolution twice.

For three years, they did not leave this country and practically maintained it in a permanent revolutionary regime. Going further, they have haunted our country for 20 years. And now, in order to conceal their own illicit funds, they are not hesitating to make a third attempt to disrupt the country.

Everyone who opposes the transparency of NGOs is actually driven by one goal - to never let this country rest and to keep it constantly in the closed circle of so-called polarization.

We would like to remind you that over the past 3 years, the government has prevented all attempts to disturb the country, maintained peace, and achieved candidate status. This shows that if you do not bow down to anyone and stand with dignity, you will achieve a worthy result.

For several months now, they have been threatening us that if we do not give up the independence of the Central Election Commission and the court, they will not open negotiations with the European Union. One thing should be said here: today they have opened negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, while Georgia is ahead of both countries in terms of democracy, rule of law, human rights, strength of institutions, lack of corruption, and economic development. Therefore, it is in the interests of the European Union to restore justice as soon as possible.

Here are the people who express the position of the vast majority of the population of Georgia.

We call on the European Union, unlike in June 2022, to show due respect to Georgian society, restore justice, and open negotiations this year.

This is the demand of Georgian society, which both the society and the state deserve. Additionally, we urge everyone to take care of the Georgian people and not to hide illicit funds through NGOs who seek to disrupt the country. This would be a dignified and responsible attitude towards the Georgian people.

The most important parliamentary elections await us in October. It is also a kind of referendum regarding the laws on NGOs and pseudo-liberal propaganda. Today, the Georgian Dream is supported by more than 60 percent of citizens. Accordingly, we are confident that Georgian Dream will once again defeat the radical opposition with a significant margin and celebrate its ninth consecutive election victory," said Kobakhidze.

On April 3, 2024, Georgian Dream once again initiated the Russian law on so-called           Foreign Agents in the parliament, which had been withdrawn a year ago as a result of thousands of protests, with a promise to never accept it again. The Russian Law requires independent media and non-governmental organizations operating with grant support from international funds and unable to be controlled by the government or related groups to register as Foreign Agents. More than 150 non-governmental and media organizations issued a statement that they would not register in the "defamation register" under any circumstances. On April 17, 83 deputies supported the Russian law in the first reading.

Since April 15, mass protests have been held in Tbilisi every day, with tens of thousands of people participating in the April 28 demonstration.