“The European Union expects Georgia to change radically to accommodate the EU. The Georgian government expects the EU to change radically to accommodate Georgia,” reads an article published by the American outlet Responsible Statecraft. The piece includes an interview with Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili, recorded in New York.

“The latter may seem an absurd proposition given the relative size of the two sides (and it will certainly be regarded as such by the EU Commission) but as the Georgian President, Mikheil Kavelashvili reminded me in New York last week, Christian Georgia has been around for a lot longer than the EU — almost 1,700 years longer — and confidently expects to be around for a long time after it,” the article notes.

The publication also recalls the rule of former president Mikheil Saakashvili, describing his government as authoritarian.

“In the years after the Georgian Dream government was elected in 2012, relations with the EU were excellent. The previous United National Movement government of President Mikheil Saakashvili (now in jail for alleged misappropriation of state money), though it had carried out radical economic reforms (backed by copious Western aid), had become increasingly brutal and authoritarian, and had been criticized for this by human rights organizations. Moreover, though they rarely talk about this in public, Western officials had come to see Saakashvili himself as a reckless and dangerous figure whose actions had brought on the Georgian-Russian war of August 2008, in which Georgia suffered a catastrophic defeat,” Responsible Statecraft reports.

In the interview, Kavelashvili praised Bidzina Ivanishvili’s role in Georgian politics, saying: “He was responsible for restoring sanity to Georgian politics and refocusing Georgian policy on our real national interests…The number of people like him in Georgian history can be counted on the fingers of one hand. He is an example to the nation.”

Kavelashvili also stressed that the Georgian Dream government has implemented major economic and democratic reforms.

“Georgian Dream carried out further economic and democratic reforms, and as President Kavelashvili was anxious to stress, as a result Georgia drew far ahead of Moldova and Ukraine in moving towards meeting the EU’s criteria for accession,” the article states.

The author notes that Ivanishvili has always been accused of being an agent of Moscow, though no concrete evidence for this has ever been presented.

“Mr. Ivanishvili has always been accused by his enemies of being an agent of Moscow, though no concrete evidence for this has ever been presented. What is unquestionable, however, is that Mr. Ivanishvili’s immense wealth, political patronage, extensive philanthropic activities and personal prestige mean that although he was only prime minister from 2012-2013, he remains the Honorary Chairman and dominant figure in Georgian Dream,” the article reads.