Georgia’s worst political crisis in years continues into 2025, following a year marked by mass protests, accusations of electoral fraud and the derailment, by the ruling Georgian Dream party, of the country’s European integration path. In an interview for Veridica, the founder of the European-Georgian Institute (EGI), Georgi Melashvili, spoke about the processes that took place in Georgia over the past year and how he envisions the upcoming year.
In 2024, the Georgian Dream has revealed its true, pro-Russian, face
VERIDICA: What were the main political directions of 2024 in Georgia, and how can they influence Georgia's future?
GEORGI MELASHVILI: This was the year when Georgian society began freeing itself from all those illusory ideas that existed both about the "Georgian Dream" and about the political process in Georgia in general. The "Georgian Dream" turned out to be truly a pro-Russian party [on its way to impose a Russian-style regime]. Salome Zourabishvili created certain periods of normality, and she was the last anchor that held both the "Georgian Dream" and Georgian society, as well as Georgia in general, on the path of a more or less normal pro-European policy, but following her departure from the presidential palace Georgia transitions into a new political reality, a reality that is freer from illusions. And this liberation from illusions was probably the main theme of this entire year. Whether it was the elections, protests against the Russian law, or marches—this was the main theme and the main leitmotif of all of 2024 in Georgian politics.
VERIDICA: Exactly a year ago, despite some issues in implementing reforms, Georgia received candidate status for EU membership. A year later, the "Georgian Dream" government has effectively abandoned the country's European future. How would you characterize the changes in this direction that occurred in Georgia over the past year?
GEORGI MELASHVILI: The status of candidate country for EU membership was given to Georgia as an advance payment. It was given as an advance not so much to the "Georgian Dream" but to the Georgian population, to every individual and every citizen of Georgia, who had been defending their pro-European choice over the past decades. Unfortunately, the "Georgian Dream" turned out to be uninterested in European integration. Moreover, they held absolutely unacceptable elections in terms of quality and in terms of basic Western standards. And therefore, all of this that is happening now, on the one hand, reveals the true face of the "Georgian Dream" and removes all those European and pro-European masks they once wore. On the other hand, it also demonstrates certain limits of the European Union as a geopolitical player because everything that is happening in Georgia partly occurs because the European Union cannot take effective and truly active decisions in international politics due to the fact that some of its members misuse maliciously their veto power. Accordingly, when we talk about candidate status, it was undoubtedly a very important and correct decision because it showed the Georgian people who truly are Georgia's friends and that the European Union was ready to accept Georgia and accelerate all those integration processes that were happening.
Georgia’s most repressive laws since Stalin’s era
VERIDICA: This year, the "Georgian Dream" passed a number of anti-democratic and controversial laws in parliament. Why do you think the "Georgian Dream" needed these laws?
GEORGI MELASHVILI: The "Georgian Dream" is quite a complex phenomenon. It is a phenomenon that combines external influence from the Kremlin with internal conspiracy theories, and a rejection of how the West and the international system actually work.
Ivanishvili and the "Georgian Dream" deeply believe their own propaganda. This is a property of propaganda we observed in Russia, where decision-makers also came to believe their own propaganda. We see the same thing in Georgia. A very revealing example is the interview of the owner of the pro-government Imedi TV channel, in which he essentially criticized the "Georgian Dream" and said that if we do not take the "Georgian Dream's" statements about being drawn into a second front at face value, all their decisions are madness. Of course, the propagandist believes the "Georgian Dream", but for us, neutral observers and people observing politics, it is absolutely clear that the "Georgian Dream" indeed committed a series of gross mistakes and very unpleasant abuses when they passed all these laws. On the one hand, they hoped that the Georgian public would vent its anger, and after the elections, which they obviously planned to falsify, the wave of protests would be significantly smaller. They hoped they could intimidate Georgian society and implement a mini-Belarusian scenario, where the entire society would be intimidated, and no one would come out into the streets anymore. They failed at this, and therefore they decided to tighten the screws even further.
We already saw that the population does not comply with the requirements of this law, these laws, which were de facto signed by the president practically on the day of his inauguration. And this, by the way, is also very indicative: a person who promised in his speech to be a unifier began his de facto rule by adopting the most repressive laws in Georgia since Stalin's time. Well, this also characterizes the "Georgian Dream" quite well.
These laws were adopted to intimidate society as much as possible, to press the population as hard as possible, and to force everyone to remain silent. This is their main goal: for no one to interfere with the "Georgian Dream" conducting its corrupt dealings and totally controlling the Georgian state, thereby depriving it of sovereignty and effectively turning it into a North Caucasus region.
VERIDICA: Parliamentary elections were supposed to lead Georgia out of the ongoing political crisis and serve as a kind of test of democracy for the country. How, in your opinion, did Georgia perform in this test?
GEORGI MELASHVILI: The Georgian society passed this test and did so very well. We clearly see the determination of the Georgian people who defend democracy. We see that the "Georgian Dream" could not intimidate, bribe, or otherwise influence Georgian society, and therefore, the Georgian people and Georgian society undoubtedly passed the test of democracy.
As for the "Georgian Dream," those who were well aware of what the "Georgian Dream" represented did not have particularly high expectations. Everyone clearly understood that they would try to intimidate the population. Everyone clearly understood that they would try to bribe the population. And all the tricks we saw in Moldova were also used by the "Georgian Dream" against its own people in Georgia. But whereas in Moldova these tricks were more or less neutralized by the state, in Georgia's case, unfortunately, the state itself used these tricks to maintain power and transfer this absolute, total power to the "Georgian Dream."
Therefore, undoubtedly, the "Georgian Dream" did not pass this test. But, on the other hand, for the Georgian society, this became yet another collapse of illusions and a return to reality—an acceptance of what the "Georgian Dream" truly is: an authoritarian Russian regime that must be fought with different methods.
The Georgian Dream is a fully authoritarian force that could only be defeated if the opposition unites against it
VERIDICA: Over the past year, Salome Zourabishvili, from being a president placed in this position by the "Georgian Dream", has become a leader uniting the opposition. What role do you think she can play in the future of Georgian politics?
GEORGI MELASHVILI: This question is better addressed to Salome Zourabishvili herself because this question has been asked by everyone for quite some time, and so far, no one has an answer to it, except perhaps for her. Salome Zourabishvili is already the second president who has stood against the "Georgian Dream." The first was Georgi Margvelashvili. And this also very clearly shows how far the "Georgian Dream" has deviated from its initial positioning from five or six years ago.
The "Georgian Dream" today is a fully pro-Russian force, a fully authoritarian force controlled by one specific person who absolutely does not tolerate any alternative opinions or people who disagree with his positions.
Salome Zourabishvili has become the only high-ranking politician in Georgia with whom the West still maintains dialogue and who is still acceptable in the West. Now, after she left the presidential residence, Zourabishvili is becoming part of Georgian party politics. How, in what way, and what function she will choose for herself remains to be seen. First and foremost, this must be her decision, which we do not yet know.
VERIDICA: After the parliamentary elections, the opposition declared that they do not recognize the election results. Protests were held, but after the start of pro-European protests, opposition representatives have been almost silent about their further plans. What is the current state of the Georgian opposition?
GEORGI MELASHVILI: I would not say that they have stepped aside. There were two main demands that remain relevant to this day: new elections and the release of political prisoners. The opposition voices these two demands, while at the same time, they did not enter parliament, which is also very important for the political process. Therefore, I would not say that the opposition is completely invisible. Perhaps they comment less, and that is good because the opposition should primarily focus on politics. It is therefore very important for the opposition to continue doing what they are doing now: consolidating, uniting resources while maintaining their own identity. Because if we talk about defeating the "Georgian Dream", only a nationwide unification can achieve this—unification of all citizens of Georgia, regardless of their political views. Gradually, this is happening, perhaps more slowly than we would like. For example, it would have been significantly better if, before the elections, opposition parties had managed to create two large blocs—one with the United National Movement (the party of Georgia's third president Mikheil Saakashvili) and one without. And there were very active negotiations about this, for example, negotiations between Georgi Gakharia's party and LELO, and so on. But, unfortunately, this did not happen, and as a result, we have the reality we are in today.
The existence of a unified coordination and information center is all very good and correct. And the fact that these parties united around Salome Zourabishvili and created the 1+4 format was also, I think, quite the right decision.
VERIDICA: This year was marked by numerous sanctions from the EU and the US against members of the "Georgian Dream." What is the current attitude of the West towards Georgia and, in particular, the "Georgian Dream"?
GEORGI MELASHVILI: Everyone supports Georgia, and everyone perceives the "Georgian Dream" as a Russian construct. To date, European countries have very clearly shown that they will support the Georgian people, 80% of whom support a pro-European course. At the same time, the "Georgian Dream" has completely discredited itself. It has shown itself to be a fully pro-Russian force, and accordingly, it will be treated as such.
The fact that the United States has finally activated a number of sanction mechanisms is also a very concrete signal, including to European and British partners. The coalition of determination we now see—composed of the Weimar Triangle, the Baltic countries, and the Northern countries—also very clearly shows that the perception of the "Georgian Dream" has changed, and, accordingly, the attitude toward the "Georgian Dream" will be what it deserves.
VERIDICA: How do you see the beginning of the year for Georgia?
GEORGI MELASHVILI: Georgia comes to the end of this year without illusions but full of determination. And I expect that 2025 will also be full of determination and the struggle against Russian influence in Georgia and, accordingly, against the "Georgian Dream" party.
