Press Digest 24.06.2014
Completion of the Association Agreement is near
How did Saakshvili turn up at the Ukrainian Presidents inauguration ceremony?
Abkhazian passport stripping process suspended
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Completion of the Association Agreement is near
"A prospect of implementing European values, a chance to enter the European market as well as shipping western production to Georgia – these are the key benefits that our country will receive after signing the association agreement. Three days prior to the completion of the landmark deal, the specialists have thrown this issue into the mix. As they maintain, the public must be granted accurate and detailed information regarding the issue; only in this way will the people be prevented from having elusive and unrealistic expectations or denigrating the importance of the deal. Reports are rife that the High Executive will not be involved in Georgia’s delegation heading to Brussels to finalize the pact. Allegedly, the agreement will be signed by the PM and the delegation will involve only those high officials that are directly linked to this issue,” reports the Rezonansi gazette.
“The political experts as well as our politicians have crusaded against their decision to sideline the President. As Soso Tsiskarishvili announced in his interview with the paper Rezonansi, that the top officials in Brussels have already set to issuing scoffing remarks against us. “This is an indelible mark on the reputation and image of our country on the international stage… They have already sneered at us; the high officials in Brussels are laughing at us and … their move to sideline the President has nothing to do with our national interests,” declares Mr. Tsiskarishvili.
"It is also worth noting that when two days ago President Margvelashvili was asked whether or not he desires to join the delegation, he stated that his desire is not of crucial significance on this occasion. As for the agreement itself, as you know, it consists of two parts – political and economic. This agreement will come into effect only conditionally after it is completed. In order to precipitate the process of its formal enactment, the deal must undergo ratification, i.e., it must be supported by Georgia’s Parliament, EU parliament as well as its 28 member states. Georgia’s legislative body plans to ratify the agreement in July. In this very month, the new parliament of Europe will be summoned and they will put the deal ratification issue on the top of their agenda. Only after this will the agreement come into effect,” the article says.
“The specialists have expanded on this issue with the Rezonansi gazette and declared that after the deal is sewed up, Georgia will have to redouble efforts to grasp the chance of finding its niche in the European market and fulfill its entrusted obligations. “The association pact will apparently not cure all our economic ills; this only means that if we desire to enter Europe’s market we will not face insurmountable predicaments any more. However, if you want to place your product on the European market, you must carefully observe its standards. Meeting European standards is not a peace of cake though. In some cases, the money that our Government will be prompted to dissipate to refine our products will result in increasing their price not only inside Georgia but also outside it. Thus, certain obstacles will be place on our path when we start moving forward with this process. We must realize that the landmark deal does not gift us a paradise, it only shortens our way to it. As for the paradise itself, we will never be able to have a heaven here on earth without exerting quadrupled efforts to realize this long-cherished goal of ours,” states political expert Ramaz Sakvarelidze.
“As for the political part of the agreement, as per Ramaz Sakvarelidze, our people must pluck the idea saying that the EU will push Georgians to trample on their culture, traditions and values from their heads once and for all. As Sakvarelidze alleges, they only want us to promote equality and not legalize same-sex marriages in our country,” concludes the author of the article.
How did Saakshvili turn up at the Ukrainian Presidents inauguration ceremony?
"June 7. Ukraine. Kiev. The festive inauguration ceremony of President Petro Poroshenko. Georgia’s Chief Official, Giorgi Margvalshvili, and the secretary of the National Security Council and Margvlelshvili’s Counselor, Vano Matchavariani, the Georgian Dream deputies, Vise-Speaker Zviad Dzidziguri and Chairman of the Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee, Tedo Djaparidze, are leaving Tbilisi for Kiev. As a matter of fact, these people were officially invited to Kiev and did not apparently refuse to pay a visit to this city. As for Saakashvili, as it appears now, he was not even invited to Poroshenko’s “feast”, however, he tried all the possible mischief and expedients to get hold of an invitation and appear at the ceremony along with his spouse,” reports the Alia gazette.
“As a source has informed the Alia, as soon as Mikheil Saakashvili realized that no one planned to invite him the inauguration ceremony of the Ukrainian leader, he pulled some strings and asked one of his acquaintances in the President’s Administration to give him two invitations – one for his wife and the other for him naturally. He also wanted to make them place Giorgi Margvelashvili behind him to show everyone what a respectable figure he was there. The man whom Misha gave this request first shrugged his shoulders and then declared that this task would be immensely difficult to cope with,” says the source.
“As the anonymous source reports, the man’s words infuriated Misha, who petulantly told him that he was to make his wish come true. At Saakashvili’s words, the Ukrainian high official stood on his feet and left him. Misha thought that he went out of the room to handle this issue; however, as it turned out later, he simply gave Georgia’s ex-president the cold shoulder… After this, insulted Misha met Kiev’s newly-elected Mayor Vitali Klitchko near his flat at 7 a.m. and told him that he must take him to the inauguration ceremony in his car,” the article says.
“As for Sandra, as per the anonymous source, Klotchko’s Chief guard was to help Sandra to attend the ceremony; this man, reportedly, found this task difficult to deal with, however, thanks to his unique creative talent, Saakashvili easily resolved this problem,” maintains the source.
After the above-mentioned, naturally, a logical question pops up here – how could the man whom the Ukrainian people must allegedly give credit for the contributions he made to their country have found it so cumbersome to attend the Ukrainian President’s inauguration ceremony? … As the anonymous source alleges, everyone in Ukraine has already had their fill of immensely eccentric Saakashvili, who has imposed his entourage on the Ukrainian Government and has repeatedly offered them to benefit from his vast “experience,” concludes the author of the article.
Abkhazian passport stripping process suspended
"The locals of Gali that have not been stripped off their Abkhazian passports thus far may be allowed to take part in the presidential elections to appoint their de-facto leader. Moreover, they hope that the passport stripping process will be suspended and will never be resumed in the region again. As residents of the Gali region claim, the leadership will wrap up the process of seizing Abkhazian passports from locals and in the wake of this, they will enjoy the possibility of easily crossing the Enguri border,” reports the Rezonansi gazette.
“I am in Zugdidi now. I’ve crossed the Enguri border today with my Abkhazian passport and I am returning there today. Reports on their intention to seize our Abkhazian passports have ceased. On the contrary, rumors are rife that they will allow those residents of Gali who have retained their Abkhazian passports to enter the polling stations,” maintains one of the residents of Gali.
“As “Apsin Press” reported last week, as many as 1,180 people are not entitled to take part in the election of a De-facto leader. These are mainly those people who have been stripped of their Abkhazian passports. As many as 26,000 residents of Gali have received the passports, while the number of residents of the region hits 29,300,” reads the paper.
"As we have found out, this issue is being scrutinized in the parliament at this point. As reports go, they have wrapped up the passport stripping process until the elections. They may also issue the residency documents for the locals; however, they could also leave our passports with us. We can really not say anything for certain,” declared one of the Gali locals.
