No one is going to quarrel with the President, we are talking only about facts, Irakli Kobakhidze, Chairman of the Georgian Dream party, told reporters, responding to the information released by the Presidential Administration that the President had signed the appointment of all government-nominated candidates for the posts of ambassadors in the past year.

As Kobakhidze noted, in June-July of last year and this year, the President did not sign the appointment of 5 ambassadors and the recall of one ambassador, despite the recommendation of the Government.

"We are talking about facts, and the facts are as follows - in June-July last year, the President was sent three submissions from the Government regarding the appointment of ambassadors, and to date no response has been received from her. Almost a year has passed, therefore, it means that the President refused to appoint them. Incorrect information was spread by the Presidential Administration. In addition, this year, about 2-3 weeks ago, the Government sent an application regarding the appointment of two ambassadors and the recall of one ambassador. In this case, she directly refused in writing. This is documented, there is an official correspondence between the President and the Government, therefore it is unclear why the Presidential Administration spread incorrect information. It is obvious that the President has misunderstood her competence in the field of appointing ambassadors. The implementation of foreign policy is the sole competence of the Government. When the President interferes in the foreign policy implementation with her so-called arguments, this additionally means that she violated the Constitution," said Kobakhidze.

For information, according to the Administration of the President of Georgia, during the last year, the President has approved all the candidacies nominated by the Government for appointment in diplomatic missions and international organizations.

Following the Georgian Dream's statement regarding the President that "during the past year, there have been numerous instances where the President has refused to appoint an ambassador or a diplomatic representative nominated by the Government," InterPressNews requested public information from the President's Administration as to how many applications related to the appointment were submitted by the Government to the Presidential Administration, From January 1, 2021 to March 21, 2022, and how many were approved/rejected by Salome Zurabishvili.

As InterPressNews was informed by the Presidential Administration in response to the requested information, during this period, the Government of Georgia submitted 12 candidates for the post of ambassadors to the President, and the President signed the relevant decrees on the appointment for all 12 candidates.