“Georgia will become a member, I think, when Allies assess that it is prepared to fulfil the obligations that come with membership, including upholding principles – core principles of democratic governance, including the fundamental principle that people are free to choose their leaders. And unfortunately, since I was ambassador in Georgia, we have not seen Georgia progress to meeting those objectives,” said the US Deputy Secretary of State for Political Affairs, John Bass, the US Ambassador to Georgia from 2009 to 2012.
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The diplomat was asked to what extent his early assumptions and expectations coincide with the current dynamics of Georgia's integration into the alliance. As John Bass says, the evolution of the Georgian Dream government in recent years and especially in recent months is very disturbing.
“For many of us who spent time in Georgia or working with Georgians, particularly in the aftermath of the conflict in 2008 in which, yet again, Russia was attempting to determine how a neighboring country should live, dictate whether or not that country should be free to choose its own security relationships with, in this case, NATO – having been there in that period, it’s been very disturbing to see the evolution in recent years and particularly in recent months of the Georgian Dream government…
As the U.S. ambassador who worked quite hard to ensure that there were the conditions in place to allow Georgian Dream to compete fairly in the parliamentary elections of 2012, it is deeply disturbing to see that same group now eroding the foundations of democratic governance and society.
I would say it is both deeply disturbing and saddening to see the aspirations and dreams of an entire society being held hostage to the grievances of one individual: Bidzina Ivanishvili,” said John Bass.
Despite the deterioration of US-Georgia relations, the United States has invited Georgia to the NATO summit, which will be held on July 9-11 in Washington. "All NATO partners are invited to partner events," said Jim O'Brien, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, yesterday. O'Brien also noted that the recent actions of the Georgian government are incompatible with the country's desire to join NATO and the European Union.
It should be noted that Bidzina Ivanishvili, the honorary chairman of Georgian Dream, refused to meet with Jim O'Brien during his visit to Tbilisi in May. "The prime minister said that he will not meet me because we are under de facto sanctions. At this stage, there are no sanctions on him. That such an influential person is so misinformed is shocking and disappointing. The fact that the prime minister says this is the reason why one of Georgia's partners cannot meet with this citizen is putting individual interest above the country's constitutional obligation to work with international partners to join the European Union and NATO," O'Brien said at the time.
