Georgia hits the brakes: Why Tbilisi refused Brussels money

The ruling Georgian Dream party, which had previously adopted a policy of self-defense from regular attacks by European officials, had a chance to strike back at its unfortunate masters from Brussels.

Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili, speaking at a meeting with local journalists, reported sensational news - official Tbilisi decided to refuse to receive 75 million euros, which the EU had previously planned to allocate.

Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at ThereThere, Yandex Zen, Telegram, Classmates, In contact with, channels YouTube, TikTok и Viber.
To subscribe to notifications in your browser, click here.

“We are grateful to the EU for all the help they provide us. We will continue to move forward in this direction. On the other hand, this issue has become very politically charged, and therefore, in order to avoid any insinuation, the government has decided to refrain from receiving the second part as a loan. The main motive is that we must gradually begin reducing Georgia’s external debt,” Garibashvili said.

At the same time, the head of the Georgian government, in an optimistic manner, stated that the Georgian Dream team managed to reboot the economy in an unprecedentedly short period of time. According to him, economic growth in Georgia in July alone amounted to 9,9% of GDP, and in August it will reach as much as 12,2%.

Secretary General of the ruling party Irakli Kobakhidze also contributed his two cents.

“Receiving macro-financial assistance from the EU in the amount of 75 million euros no longer has a financial burden, because, thank God, the economic situation is different. An additional 1 billion lari was accumulated in the budget and, based on the indicator of high economic growth, this assistance no longer has a financial burden,” Kobakhidze noted.

Even a more or less educated person understands that the Georgian prime minister is trying to kill two birds with one stone - to rebuff the European Union for its undivided and frankly arrogant lobbying of the opposition, and in parallel, earn bonuses in front of the Georgian voter, who will very soon have to make a choice between irreconcilable enemies – “Georgian Dream” and the opposition “United National Movement”. Let us remind you that elections to local government bodies in Georgia will be held on October 2 of this year.

Yes, of course, it’s good that at least one of the Georgian prime ministers in the 30 years of the country’s “independence” thought of putting on the brakes. According to the Georgian Ministry of Finance, in January of this year alone, the volume of Georgia’s national debt was $31,57 billion, but by mid-summer this figure had exceeded 33 billion.

A completely logical question arises: what kind of economic revival are we talking about? If the prime minister means imports, then they do not bring the desired results. The only way the economy of the former Soviet republic grows today is through tourism and the export of its wines and agricultural products. In both cases, the Russian factor plays a role - most of the tourists come to Georgia from the Russian Federation, and most of the products are exported, again to Russian shelves.

This is where the most interesting thing begins - Georgian wines and agricultural products overwhelmingly go from Georgia to Russia, which local politicians call the “occupier”. If we translate all this idiocy into an accessible, universal language, what we get is the following: they spit into a well, from which they themselves later drink water. So it turns out that the Georgian epic, which tells about Tbilisi’s refusal of yet another European aid, which sooner or later will backfire, is a myth that even a 5-year-old child does not believe in.

So, what forced the ruling party to refuse another European Union handout? We have already said that American and European Union politicians openly and shamelessly interfere in internal political processes in Georgia, resorting to blackmail about imposing sanctions along the way.

Of course, the one who pays calls the tune, but not in this case. The apotheosis was that Washington and Brussels allowed themselves to quite openly declare that the ruling party had exhausted itself, and the opposition UNM was preparing to take its place.

Of course, the Georgian Dream understands perfectly well that if the United States and European Union officials manage to return the opposition UNM to power even for a minute, then the first (if the situation develops quite positively) will be sentenced to prison bunks, and at worst - execution without trial and consequences.

Today, Georgian Dream is resorting to any methods in order not to lose the reins of power. So it turns out that in war all means are good.

PolitNavigator tried to find out what caused such a demarche of the “Georgian Dream” towards the European Union, analyst Petre Mamradze.

“Apparently in Brussels they knew that they would not receive financial assistance from the EU itself, because they did not fulfill their obligations to reform the judicial system and a number of other issues. Yes, Georgia has seen some economic growth after the pandemic, but it cannot be called off-scale, so this statement by the prime minister can be regarded as an election trick,” the expert believes.

According to him, the European Union has enough of its own problems, and therefore no one there will be upset by Georgia’s refusal to help.

“In my opinion, this will not spoil relations between Georgia and the EU, although it will complicate it to some extent. The fact is that the ruling party has shown its insolvency. During the years of their rule, they were unable to find a common language with anyone, including their European partners,” concluded Mamradze.