The Interim Fact-Finding Commission heard the accounts by two reporters - Foreign Affairs Minister, Maka Botchorishvili, and Chairman of the Education, Science and Youth Affairs Committee, Givi Mikanadze.

Givi Mikanadze provided a report on the Parliamentary Delegation’s visit to the PACE from January 21st to 27th, 2025. He emphasised that despite the opposition’s boycott of the Parliamentary activity, the PACE was remarkably well-attended - radical groups, certain politicians, and NGOs were invited guests and actively participated in the session.

According to Mikanadze, the aforementioned groups arrived in Strasbourg a couple of days earlier for intensive communication with various politicians, especially with the EPP and ALDE: “Their primary objective was to prevent the recognition of the mandate of the newly elected Parliamentary Delegation of Georgia and, consequently, to damage the country’s reputation, which they never attempted to conceal”.

Per his information, the PACE session was attended by certain opposition members: Tina Bokuchava, Salome Samadashvili, Zurab Chiaberashvili, Zurab (Girchi) Japaridze, and NGO representatives - Nino Dolidze, Nona Kurdovanidze, Giorgi Burjanadze, Giorgi Kandelaki, Tina Khidasheli et.al.

As he pointed out, a part of these politicians engaged in meetings with the President and Secretary General of PACE, expressing their request to refrain from acknowledging the legitimacy of the Georgian Delegation. The Swedish Delegation requested that the non-recognition of the Georgian Delegation be included in the agenda, which was approved by the EPP and ALDE members, as well as the Ukrainian Delegation.

According to Mikanadze, Tina Bokuchava, at the sitting of the Monitoring Committee, provided inaccurate information to the Committee members. Specifically, she asserted that Georgia is governed by the Russian Government, which necessitates special measures. Furthermore, Bokuchava claimed that the PACE would be disrespected even if a reservation were made acknowledging the legitimacy of the Georgian Delegation”.

As he observed, the radical groups’ attempt to obstruct the recognition of the legitimacy of the Georgian Delegation was unsuccessful. The PACE adopted a resolution affirming the mandate of the Delegation of the newly elected Georgian Parliament. However, it introduced unfair reservations with the request of repeated Parliamentary elections and the release of prisoners: “The PACE’s decision was unjust and unprecedented. Regardless of its mission to adhere to the highest human rights standards, it interfered in the domestic affairs of a specific country, applying double standards in favour of certain political groups. Furthermore, the PACE made an unfounded request to appoint repeated Parliamentary elections, disregarding the Georgian people’s decision made in October 2024. This approach is utterly unacceptable to us. Consequently, we, never waiting for the next session with the agenda including the Georgia issue, made the decision to terminate the legitimacy of our Delegation in the PACE”.

The Foreign Minister, Maka Botchorishvili provided information about activities committed by certain politicians in damage to the reputation of the country: “Regrettably, we observe that our Georgian political colleagues are actively engaged in a conflict against their country, which is an unacceptable and distressing situation”.

According to her, in 2022, following the Government’s announcement regarding EU membership, European politicians unequivocally clarified that Moldova and Ukraine were being granted candidate status, in contrast to Georgia: “Let us observe the reaction of 85% of the population supporting EU integration regarding the ‘Georgian Dream’ government. This statement revealed that EU integration, highly valued by Georgia, was utilised as a mere instrument by certain forces for the alteration of the authorities in Georgia. Consequently, they lost all perspectives of the 2020 elections, along with the constitutional avenues for changing the government. Therefore, they resorted to the second scenario- non-constitutional methods. Consequently, they required compelling reasons to be used against the Georgian state”.

As per the reporter, the politicians, NGOs and media - all were engaged in this process: “If you can recall the campaign that portrayed Georgia as a laggard, which was actively promoted by the “Lelo” members in the Parliament, particularly Salome Samadashvili; they used to reiterate that Georgia is a slow-moving country, thus, attempting to establish this perception in the minds of society as if Georgia does not merit the candidate status and lacks progress”.

She emphasised the campaign against Georgia that commenced immediately at the start of the war in Ukraine - the campaign called “black hole - Georgia”, wherein Georgia was unjustly accused of deviating from the correct course of action. However, these accusations were devoid of any substantiating evidence or factual basis: “This campaign, which spanned several months, had a detrimental impact on the country. Coincidentally, this was the period when Georgia was anticipating the candidate status. We were engaged in door-to-door campaigns to assure our partners that Georgia should not be excluded from the trio and that it would be a geopolitically incorrect message for the world. However, objectives beyond these geopolitical goals prevailed, and the candidate status was not granted to Georgia”.

Botchorishvili also reviewed the EuroNest meeting in 2024, which clearly revealed the “sincere attitude of the opposition politicians”. According to her, the Georgian Delegation members representing the “Georgian Dream” at the meeting initiated the resolution tailored to the three EU integration countries: Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova. However, the opposition colleagues - Vashadze, Tsitladze, Botkoveli, and Kordzaia - with the backing of the Ukrainian Delegation, voted against the document.

As per the reporter, the visa-free regime can be used against Georgia as the politicians engaged in the “street politics” actively lobby this concept in Brussels.

Regarding the Association Agreement, the Foreign Minister emphasised that during the 2013-2014 period, opposition politicians such as Salome Samadashvili, Giorgi Kandelaki, Giga Bokeria, and others, actively endeavoured to obstruct the signing of the Agreement. They utilised instances like the case of Vano Merabishvili as pretexts for their interference.

According to her, thus, they wanted to demonstrate that the Georgian Dream was unacceptable for the West: “Agenda remains unchanged, even intensified for the Elections 2024, creating a picture that the ‘Georgian Dream’ is unacceptable and shall be disregarded, which is still the main topic of discussion in Brussels”.

Individuals currently involved in politics, working in non-governmental organisations, or media outlets are responsible for the creation of all the blame that is now being directed towards the Georgian Dream. “We have to fight for the Georgian statehood, state institutions and realization of foreign policy objectives, including the EU integration”, - she stated.