Radio Free Europe’s Georgian Service sat down with Gustaf Gothberg, Member of the Swedish Parliament and its delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), to ask him about the PACE vote on revoking credentials for the Georgian Dream
Challenging the Georgian Dream credentials – lets start with the reasoning – why is it being done?
Three reasons. The first one is the fact that there were bought-and-stolen elections in Georgia. I was there myself and I saw the local thugs outside the polling stations, teaming up; saw the cameras inside. The second one is what’s been happening since – the violent crackdown on protesters, civil society, journalists. And the third one is that the delegation from Georgia now consists of representatives from one party parliament. And that one party is a one-man show. These are the three main arguments why it’s important for us not to ratify the credentials.
Not all of your colleagues share this position, however – we know there is an opposition to this step as well. What are their counter-arguments?
First and the most common one would be that “its important to have dialogue”, to maintain dialogue with the Georgian Dream government. And I don’t really buy into that argument at all, because while dialogue is important, there are more important things at stake here – like the rule of law and democracy. And what is the purpose of having an organization like Council of Europe if we openly accept undemocratic behavior of the government of a member country?
The other argument is that if we do this, we will be pushing Georgia further onto the Russian orbit. And to me that is, once again, pure nonsense, because we know that Ivanishvili doesn’t need any pushing; he is already a puppet of Putin. We need to do everything we can to support the democratic forces, which are represented by the Georgian people standing in the streets, people who want to belong to Europe, not to Russia, people who want the same core European values that serve as the foundation for the Council of Europe.
The way things are looking, the resolution will impose several conditions on the Georgian Dream and give them a deadline until April to fulfill them – if they don’t, the credentials will be taken away. What I cant quite understand is why they would expect the Georgian Dream to change its current position and cooperate, given that the conditions include preparing an environment for new elections. Why would they do that?
That is a very good question. It is an open question at this point. The thinking might be that we want to give the benefit of doubt to the Georgian Dream one last time, to change things for the better, but as you said, I don’t have much hope they will do anything like that.
In the end, if we end up revoking the credentials, this would send a strong message, it would be a victory for PACE, showing that it is a body that stands up for rule of law, for democracy – things that it exists to safeguard, in short. It will also send a strong message to Georgian Dream, that we, the European family, don’t accept what they are doing to their own people – our fellow Europeans.
What happens if things don’t change [by April], but the credentials are still not revoked? Could there be such a scenario?
I would rule that out straightaway. PACE wont go on doing “business as usual” with the Georgian Dream party, that much is a given.
Is there also a question of legitimacy at stake here?
Obviously. If we were to decide to leave things as they are, not to revoke the credentials, that would mean that for the first time in many, many years, we’ve tolerated a country with one party parliament. Even Russia didn’t do that, however fake their opposition might have been. That would set a whole new precedent, and not a good one, it would be incredibly harmful for the reputation of the assembly.
Let’s play devil’s advocate, let’s look at things from the Georgian Dream’s point of view. Losing credentials might be painful, but is it painful enough to make them change course? What does it change for them after all, not having credentials?
That is an interesting question. But I think that if we were to go on as if nothing has happened, then Ivanishvili would really have a big laugh at us. Even if we take his credentials, he might still have a chuckle, who knows. But this is merely one step in the right direction.
Over in Brussels, we have the Council revoking diplomatic passports for GD officials, and that too is merely one of the steps in the right direction. I am sure more will follow.
The biggest change, however, when it comes to the political situation in Georgia, still lies in the hands of the brave Georgian people who are protesting. And we must do everything we can, in every European organization, to assist as best as we can. It’s a thousand-piece puzzle, but every step in the right direction gets us closer to solving it.
