“Until the civilized world understands that problems for this type of regimes cannot be created with toothless resolutions alone, nothing will happen,” analyst Irakli Melashvili stated on PalitraNews’ program “Day’s Newsroom,” commenting on the “Hague Declaration,” which the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is adopting today and which includes a resolution on Georgia.

According to Melashvili, the only result of these resolutions so far is that “Georgian Dream” representatives are not invited to certain events, which, in his assessment, does not particularly bother the Georgian government.

“This is yet another resolution from European structures against the Georgian government, but we do not see any results from this resolution, including in the positions of the European Union or the European Commission toward Georgia. The only thing visible is that Georgia has been disconnected from them - there are no visits, no relations. However, at this stage, this bothers the ‘Georgian Dream’ leadership very little. We must clearly understand that the only desire of these people is to retain power, and if they can keep their seats, they are ready to sacrifice this country’s relations with the European Union and any strategic partner. The policy they are pursuing is proof of this.

Today we don’t just lack partners - we had one country that was hostile to us, Russia. Now the entire civilized world is against us as a result of this government’s ‘genius’ policy. That is exactly the situation: ‘Georgian Dream’ has confronted the civilized world.

Until the civilized world realizes that problems for this type of regimes cannot be created with toothless resolutions alone, nothing will happen.”

[Regarding why Europe is not advancing with concrete actions against “Georgian Dream”] “This issue is extremely relevant for us because we live in this country. For Europe and America, Georgia’s problems are not even tenth-priority,” Melashvili said.

He also spoke about the NATO summit being held in Turkey, to which Georgia has not been invited. According to Melashvili, the reason for Georgia’s exclusion from the summit is the openly declared position of the Georgian government itself.

“We have removed NATO membership from our country’s priorities, and ‘Georgian Dream’ has been stating this unambiguously for years. Therefore, it is natural - if our goal is not NATO membership and partnership with the Alliance, then what do we want at the summit? We have pursued a policy and done everything so that we are never invited to a NATO summit.

This is ‘Georgian Dream’s’ openly declared policy. ‘Georgian Dream’ used to say that NATO is a trap, that they wanted to use us against Russia, and that they would not allow it, and so on. NATO meant Euro-Atlantic integration. ‘Georgian Dream’ no longer even uses the word ‘Euro-Atlantic’,” Melashvili noted.

The analyst also commented on the opposition spectrum, criticizing the renewal process in the “United National Movement” and responding to Nanuka Zhorzholiani’s statement that “the political leader and prime ministerial candidate should be Misha [Saakashvili].”

In Melashvili’s assessment, there is exactly the same autocracy in Saakashvili’s party as in “Georgian Dream.” Therefore, the imprisoned third president will not allow any real opposition unity or the emergence of other strong opposition leaders. According to the analyst, this also suits Bidzina Ivanishvili, the Honorary Chairman of “Georgian Dream,” because “this is his model of victory.”

“Do they really believe what they are saying - that Mikheil Saakashvili is only expressing his personal opinion? In which country do they imagine that a non-ordinary party member (Saakashvili is not even an ordinary member; he is a citizen of another country) can remove and dismiss chairpersons? The party chairman learns from Facebook posts that he is no longer the chairman. After this, when they say that Saakashvili is simply expressing his opinion - formally, this man is not even a member of his own party. How is this one man’s opinion? Then why is there such a big fuss? Everyone knows that this is not the opinion of one ordinary person. In practice, whatever Mikheil Saakashvili says will happen.

On one hand, there is informal governance in ‘Georgian Dream,’ where they at least made some formality and named Bidzina Ivanishvili Honorary Chairman. Here, he is not even formally a party member, yet he still runs the party.

When you have been screaming for years that there is informal governance in the country, but you have the exact same thing in your own party - doesn’t everyone see this? When the chairman of your party learns from Facebook that he is no longer chairman, how are you mentally different from ‘Georgian Dream’? Both are authoritarian-type parties, and that is why the opposition cannot form a real alternative in the form of an alliance. As long as the alliance is led by the ‘United National Movement,’ Mikheil Saakashvili will not allow any strong leader to emerge. He wants his own figure to remain the main one.

Misha and Bidzina want Georgian politics to revolve around ‘Misha-Bidzina.’ Go to any court hearing for a prisoner and try to film it and then publish it… In my opinion, the daily dissemination and actualization of Mikheil Saakashvili’s positions benefits the government. His constant relevance benefits the government because, in reality, Mikheil Saakashvili is a person who will not allow any unity or strengthening unless everyone recognizes him as the head of that unity.

[Regarding Nanuka Zhorzholiani’s statements about Saakashvili] These statements first of all show how these people view the Constitution and the laws. Saakashvili is not a citizen of Georgia; he cannot be a candidate for anything, nor can he be a party leader. These people are showing what was happening during the ‘United National Movement’ era and what is still happening today. For them, the law is only a tool to advance their political goals and interests.

No matter what Nanuka Zhorzholiani says, everyone understands that Mikheil Saakashvili cannot beat Ivanishvili one-on-one, and the model being proposed is Ivanishvili’s model of victory. That is precisely why all information channels are open to Saakashvili - even in violation of the law - because any other lawyer would lose their license for doing what Saakashvili’s lawyer is doing,” Irakli Melashvili stated.