Salome Zourabichvili: Georgians still waiting for biting measures to come from Brussels,  Washington
Salome Zourabichvili: Georgians still waiting for biting measures to come from Brussels,  Washington

“Georgians have been fighting day and night, Europe has been slow to wake up and slow to react. While European flags are being banned in Tbilisi, Georgians are still waiting for biting measures to come from Brussels and Washington.  And I hope we won’t have to wait for a deeper crisis to occur for Europe to act,” said Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili addressing the European Parliament.

According to President Zourabichvili, Georgians need to know that they are not alone.

And that’s when we come to the Russian elections, Russian of course between bracket, because it’s an election that is systematic, massively rigged and very sophisticated. It’s not the usual fraud that you can see in elections. It was very well-planned because the changes to the electoral code were started much earlier, giving full control of the central electoral commission to the people that were appointed by the head of the central electrical condition, who himself was designated not under the rules that were proposed by the European Union, but principally designated for five years. The electronic vote that was coming in was also something that was designed in a specific way without any of the controls that could have been with imprints or with face recognition. Call centers, that were denounced earlier as using the pensions of some of the European elderly, and there are investigations on that, but the same call centers or new call centers were used during the election, 3,500 of them.

Administrative resources, of course, and intimidation of the public sector much before the elections. Propaganda of Russian style, of course, I already talked about it before and during the elections with those posters that you might have seen that put together the destruction in Ukraine of cathedrals, theatres, and on the other side the blooming Georgia, which shocked so much the Georgian audience that they had to withdraw them. Because that’s not the Georgian way and character. So much it was a Russian imprint on those posters and videos of the same kind and the hate speech, of course, all over. Talks from the official ruling party about the fact that the opposition parties wanted to overthrow the government and that they were going to be abolished right after the elections and their leaders arrested and that has been going on and on. Black money used in huge amounts, because about 600 million GEL, which is about $200 billion had to be sold during the months of October to compensate for the black money that was used only during those two months.

No police to be found doing the elections. I personally, was seeing the violence that was happening in some of the districts and precincts, called on the minister of internal affairs and could not reach him not on his mobile phone, not on the governmental network, nowhere. Neither his deputy and to this day, he has not called back.

No courts to judge the irregularities and the police that were introduced except one, a very famous case, because that was the one that experimented the lack of confidentiality of the electronic system the way it was used. And of course, he was the judge that was so brave to uphold this plea, was not followed up by the court of appeal, and none of the other appeals where ever recognized,” she said.

The President of Georgia remarked that two main principles were violated during the October 26 parliamentary elections: Universality and vote secrecy.

“Two main principles were violated during the elections that are sufficient to show that any result would have been completely different. One is a universality with over 1 million of our members of Diaspora, many of them in Strasbourg, by the way. And Strasburg is a very good case because that was refused the opening of the precinct tier. Whereas normally they say that if there is an embassy that can be the case, but in Strasburg where there are many Georgians, and where they were all the rules were respected for the opening of a precinct was not allowed. And out of one million Diaspora members, only  34,000 voted when the whole of the diaspora was very mobilized because they knew that the election was about Europe or Russia.

The second principle violated was that of confidentiality because of the way that’s the electronic system was used plus a party cameras over the machines, and representatives of the  commission,  who were all appointed by the head of the central electoral commission. Those were introduced as pleased by myself and the political parties in the constitutional court despite what we know about the independence so-called of the constitutional court, but just to show and with the hope that maybe some judges would understand that this was a way out of a crisis to recognize that the results had been completely rigged and to allow for a constitutional way towards new elections. But that was a hope that was not met. And there is another plea that is introduced by the Georgian citizens, by a group of Georgian citizens, to the court in Strasbourg.  And that is to say that we want to exploit all the legal ways that can be envisaged in order to get out and to get through a political solution to this very deep crisis.

What is even more important is that after the elections, we are seeing an accelerated process, and an accelerated Russian path. Not only the violations of the constitutions that happened at the time of the elections and after the elections, the fact that the first session of the parliament that can be called only by me, was called by a president of the parliament that was not at that time president of the parliament. And that is not recognized by the constitution. And they’ll didn’t leave any time for the constitutional court to examine the pleas that were introduced. And met the first session of the parliament without waiting, which is another anti-constitutional decision. And of course on the 28th of November, the declaration, which says that the prime minister, that at that point has no legitimacy because these elections are deeply contested but also has no mandate for that because the constitution says very specifically that every institution in Georgia has to do everything possible in order to facilitate, accelerate the Euro Atlantic integration process. And that constitution was, in large parts, written by the same prime minister who goes against the constitution and says, under what mandate, that he suspends the negotiations, which there are no negotiations really ongoing yet. And that was what we were expecting. And what is really suspending is the European future of Georgia without any real mandate or right to do so,” she said.

President Salome Zourabichvili noted that everything in Georgia is controlled by one party.

“And so at that point in time, everything already in Georgia is controlled by the one party, or one man rule, it’s difficult to distinguish.

What remains outside of that control  are the opposition media. And I want to underline that because out of three of them, two are in a very dire financial crisis that is probably something that is also provoked, difficult to prove it at that point, but it’s very strange.

The non-governmental organizations that are under the Damocles Sword of the Russian law and the way it was going to be implemented. The presidency, here I am, with two impeachments in my bag,  and the fact that in one week time, or most, I won’t have any security  to secure me, but I don’t know whether security at this point means any form of really security. And at that same time, and that is maybe more important, there is a campaign of hate and accusations from some small groups, that are promising me all kinds of things after the elections.

Political parties that stay of course, out of the control of the state, many of their leaders have been arrested and then released and arrested in the past days, but the main threat that’s above them is what had been announced before the elections by Mr Ivanishvili, and by the members of the government that they would abolish some of the parties and that national movement in the first place, but we are all called a national movement supporters, so it concerns almost everyone.

We’re all fascists, the liberal fascist is a new terminology, and what remains really is the civil society, and you’ve all seen the scenes of how the civil society is treated, what form of repression, what form of intimidation. And there are new laws, to add to that, that have been hastily adopted while people are on the streets and, nobody is really paying attention to what happens in the Parliament. One law that allows for preventive arrests under or well conditions, and a law, that is very serious, on public service because it really cuts down and destroys all the work that was done for some years to bring about this very European law on public service that guaranteed impartiality, professionalism, career, and that means that the administration had a memory. Now they’ve cut that out. They can fire anyone without any protection. They can promote anyone without any criteria or any diploma. That seems to be now the new rule. And it really means that there will be the complete politicization of the public service and that’s also an instrument for intimidation of the people that have been protesting from the public service, have been signing petitions all over, for instance in the foreign ministry, but also the justice ministry, and the education ministry very widely. So all these people feel that they are under some form of surveillance and that measures might be at any time taken against them without any need for any demonstration. And another form of Russification, I would say of the state model is the lies as a modus operandi.

We have seen the lies already with the Russian law, when Mr. Ivanishvili himself and the prime minister then promised that never again this law was not going to be introduced. And then not even a year after it was reintroduced. And now we are seeing, and you are seeing, all of you, the lies when the official statements are describing the positions of your countries, of some of your countries, during the council of foreign affairs, which you had to rectify with statements. but good news, I want to let you know that those statements of rectification are not publicized by either the public television or of course, by the governmental televisions. So the people that are supporting the Georgian dream and are watching these televisions do not know that their government is lying.

And after having lied, is also insulting its partners. So, what is important to finally get to is that it’s not a question today of politics, or of polarization, or of a government that has overextended its authority, not to say authoritarianism. It’s really about this radical choice that was presented during the elections to the voters, and it’s a vote about Georgia and its future,” she said.

Salome Zourabichvili stressed that Georgians would not stop until they got free and fair elections.

“And it must be clear that Georgians will not stop until Georgia gets free and fair elections, because that is the only democratic, political way out of this situation.

But,  it is also about you. It is about Europe. First of all, it’s about Europe’s credibility.  A country that just received candidate status. Europe cannot afford to let that country trample all democratic rules and norms after having rejected or ignored all of European Union’s 12 and 9 recommendations. It cannot afford to be humiliated in what are its main principles. Then, it’s about Europe’s strategic interests. Georgia is and has been, And I’m sure will be, the West and Europe’s foothold in the region. One that Russia is trying to take over because Russia remembers its Imperial Times generals that used to say that who holds Tbilisi holds the Caucasus. And that for Russia has not changed.

And if Georgia falls under Russian control, and again, I am not talking about a military intervention, I’m talking about this electoral and constitutional intervention, the stakes are very high that concerns black sea security, that concerns everything linked to connectivity to central and South Asia, It concerns Armenia’s European future.

So it’s much more than just Georgia and just Georgia’s democracy or just Georgia’s political choices. Georgia is part for Europe of its global struggle that Russia is waging against it.  After Russia lost in Syria, should it win in Georgia?  After Russia failed to impose itself in Ukraine, should it win in Georgia?  After Russia failed in Moldova,

Should it win in Georgia?  And after it failed and I hope it will fail very soon again in Romania, should it win in Georgia?  Those are the questions for you. Because what Russia is testing now with us is a much less costly form of intervention. One that uses its proxies in the country. One that uses our own common democratic instruments, elections, and through elections impose its rule and its strengths.  And if we are honest, Europe so far has not fully lived to the moment.

Europe has so far met the challenge halfway.  The last Foreign Affairs Council was a first step, But much more can and should be done.  I won’t get into specifics because that’s  your  free decisions, but you all know where Georgians have been fighting day and night, Europe has been slow to wake up and slow to react.

While European flags are being banned in Tbilisi,  Georgians are still waiting for biting measures to come from Brussels and Washington.  And I hope we won’t have to wait  for a deeper crisis to occur for Europe to act. And how can Europe act?  First of all, political support.  We need,  and I thank  the president for reminding it, that constant political attention from the highest levels.  Because Georgians, first and foremost, need to know that they are not alone, that we have your back, that is what European parliament, parliamentarians did coming to Tbilisi. This was Emmanuel Macron’s strong message. But we need more. We need more  visits to Georgia, but visits that do respect the principle of not business as usual.

Because, as you know, and you have experimented that with Russia, those visits can be very well manipulated, because in propaganda, they are the best, undoubtedly.  So those visits need to be exactly Controlled, I would say, in terms of public relations so that they do not serve a different end.

We need to fight lies and disinformation. We have been saying that for months now, if not more.  Can Europe accept to be called the party of war?  Can Europe accept to see some of its ambassadors insulted in the country?  Can Europe accept and let the Georgian government claim that it is moving towards Europe?  Can Europeans accept for the Georgian Prime Minister to outright lie about Italy, Spain, and Romania’s position?

The second direction in which Europe can act is justice, and that is what Europe stands for. We need  to free rapidly the hundreds that are in prison. And some of them under sentences that go up to 9 years.  There should be very close monitoring, and I know that some European ambassadors have assisted yesterday at a trial, and they were quite impressed. So, I think that many more of these visits to the Courts would be very important to see how they work. And certainly, freeing of  those in prison and perpetrators of acts that are being qualified as torture brought to justice.

New elections is also the way Europe can support us. We need for Europe to support this call as the only peaceful way forward.  There is no other way, no changes in legislation, no face saving arrangements, we know that these authorities, again, very Russian model, can do one step forward and two step back, or two step back, one step forward, I don’t remember what was Lenin’s formula, but they have been practicing that quite successfully.

So we have to be very clear and very principled as will be the Georgian population. We either go to elections or we go somewhere that we do not know, but that certainly will be a crisis that we will, you will have to deal in much direr conditions.

You have to use your leverage and be a geopolitical Europe. Europe is Georgia’s biggest donor,  Georgia’s biggest market, home to Georgia’s biggest diaspora.  Europe needs to find the leverage to act.  If Europe cannot exert leverage on a country of 3.7 million, how can it expect to compete with the giants of the 21st century?

Europe has personal clout. It is also the preferred destination for Georgia’s corrupt elite and leadership. They import post Soviet Russia governance in Georgia,  but are happy to save and spend their money in Europe, and they want the Russian corrupt rule for Georgians, but Europe for themselves.

So there are many ways in which you can stand by the Georgians because Georgia will win this fight.  It will defend its freedom, democracy, and European future.

And in certain ways, while not wanting at all to compare to the Ukrainian bravery and tragedy. But Ukraine is fighting for freedom, democracy and European future and your future, and I’m sure that they will win and they have to be supported to the end, and on the other side, we are at a testing ground fighting, of course, not militarily, but we’re fighting with bare hands in a different manner.

Something that also has a very dear, clear bearing on all of us is future.  The question I came here to ask is simple. Will you speed up the transition or will you let it prolong throughout the winter?  Georgians will not waver, but expect Europe to step up so we can defend Europe and its values together,” she concluded.