The main point in the statement by the U.S. Department of State is the obligation to create an environment in which the public and their representatives—in this case, opposition forces—have the opportunity to exercise their institutional and democratic rights. What matters is the environment itself, and it is precisely this environment that must be ensured; this is Washington’s position regarding Georgia, said Tengiz Kirtadze, one of the leaders of “Federalists,” on PalitraNews’ program “Day's Newsroom.”

According to Kirtadze, following the visit of the State Department delegation to Georgia, several essential directions have emerged that include ensuring both internal and external sustainable stability in the country. In particular, he said it is necessary to ensure broad public participation in political processes, guarantee fundamental human rights, and neutralize foreign influence, which includes Russian and Iranian influence.

“The United States has its national interests in the region and in Georgia; this strengthens our country, and now for the first time a clear line has been drawn regarding around whom the Georgian-American strategic partnership can develop in the future, in order to ensure internal and external sustainable stability. It is also necessary to ensure the involvement of a very large part of society, because even according to Bidzina Ivanishvili’s CEC data, nearly half of the country’s population is opposed to the ‘Georgian Dream’ government, and these forces are not involved in public and political life. This must be ensured, and only if Ivanishvili fulfills his ‘homework’ can we then speak about opposition involvement.

Neutralizing foreign influence in Georgia must also be ensured, which refers to Russian and Iranian influence, especially given that the United States is currently in conflict with Iran. We know Iran’s position toward Georgia, we know about the networks operating in the country, and we know the Iranian embassy’s attitude toward Georgian society and the Georgian state. All of this was allowed under Ivanishvili’s regime, and it must be addressed.

Internal stability must also be ensured. You may not like a large part of society, but when we talk about ensuring internal stability, the fundamental rights of those people whose views you may not agree with must be guaranteed. Their inclusion can only be ensured if elementary democratic principles are respected in Georgia,” Kirtadze said.

He added that, based on past experience, the United States does not want a repeat of processes like the “Charles Michel agreement” in Georgia, and that its current demands are based on firmer principles.

“The Americans most of all do not want the process to turn into ‘Charles Michel 2.’ At that time, the opposition entered the process with Ivanishvili without preconditions being fulfilled, partly due to pressure from our partners. They entered and allowed themselves to be used, then Ivanishvili betrayed the process, which was later framed as the opposition’s failure and also the EU’s failure, weakening Western positions in Georgia. Lessons were learned from that mistake, and now they are therefore speaking to Ivanishvili in terms of a stability requirement as a process. In other words, they are not asking him to pass one law today and call that stability—they are asking to see a sustainable process, and only then will they speak about re-engagement, based precisely on the experience of the Charles Michel process.

The opposition, despite being fragmented, has managed to develop a common understanding of strategy and rules of conduct, has gained the trust of part of society, as we saw on May 26, and has now announced a campaign that will continue throughout the summer. This will not be directed only at the protesting segment of society. It will be a politically hot summer, and there is always hope that ‘Georgian Dream’ will make mistakes, including Bidzina Ivanishvili, especially given the situation he is currently in,” he said.

The “Federalists” member also commented on the establishment of a new unit in the Ministry of Internal Affairs to monitor and proactively identify hate speech, saying that the government already had all the mechanisms to pursue political opponents, and that this unit is mainly a message to its own electorate, showing that “Georgian Dream” is fighting opposition.

“In a normal environment, we could have debated this very bad decision legally, and it would have been interesting for the public and experts to hear the clash of arguments. But in the environment we are in, whether restrictive law No. 357 exists or not makes zero difference.

In my view, this law will be completely ignored and met with public ridicule. Despite its nature and chilling effect, it will not work. It may be used against political opponents, but mechanisms for persecuting political opponents already existed anyway. This is just a message to its own vertical structure, showing that ‘I have not surrendered, I am still fighting, and I will suppress this resistance.’ In other words, resistance is treated as a problem. In Georgia, there is a law requiring certain people to get prior approval from the state on whether they are allowed to leave their home.

What does it mean when people are arrested for standing on sidewalks? If you do not have the right to move on the roadway or stand on the sidewalk, it means you must coordinate with the regime whether you are allowed to leave your home. This law has already been in effect for half a year,” Kirtadze said.