Press Digest 09.07.2014
An active Giorgi Margvelashvili simply contradicts their belief as per which the Chief Executive must be an inert figure and must “isolate himself from the outer world – Vano Matchavariani
EU losing its tug-of-war with Russia – Russia’s South Stream project is moving forward
Our labor market dwells in stagnation
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An active Giorgi Margvelashvili simply contradicts their belief as per which the Chief Executive must be an inert figure and must “isolate himself from the outer world – Vano Matchavariani
A statement saying that the PM and not the high Executive will deliver a speech at the UN Parliamentary Assembly has already been issued. As President’s former Counselor, Vano Matchavariani, declares, if the aforementioned decision is not founded on a political agreement, the future processes in Georgia will be far from normal and healthy,” reports the Rezoanansi gazette.
“One of the most vulnerable issues for us today is the present relations between the Institution of the President and the Government. Different questions are swirling round our President’s rights and authority, and a political agreement which will iron out a solution to this issue is of paramount significance for us today. A political deal must be negotiated between the President and the Ministers and everyone must unanimously admit that the Chief Executive’s rights must be inviolable. Whether or not we approve of our Constitution; as long as this document is valid, the President’s authority which it dictates must be inviolable and this matter must be resolved once and for all,” maintains Mr. Margvelashvili’s former Counselor.
“Two subjects are of utmost importance in Georgia today – the first issue is institutional; unfortunately, the adaptation to the new Constitution has been stretched in time and in the wake of this, the necessity of holding a bilateral dialogue has automatically emerged. The second but not the least important matter is Bidzina Ivanishvili’s move to subject Mr. Margvelashvili to criticism live on air. Giorgi Marvelashvili simply turned out to be a man of principle, a strong person, who refused to meekly comply with all their requirements that would have resulted in narrowing the President’s authority even more. They can repeatedly deny this, however the actual fact is that Ivansihvili’s diatribe against Mr. Margvelashvili has had a negative impact on relations between our top official and the Ministers,” asserts Mr. Matchavariani.
“As for us, apparently some people, who obviously aimed to thwart us in successfully accomplishing our duties, spread misinformation regarding us and exerted an all-out effort to make this misinformation reach Bidzina Ivanishvili’s ears. From my point of view, the President’s trenchant foreign policy and his taken steps on the international scene is of crucial importance today. I was involved in this process as early as in the run-up to the elections when along with President I actively worked on the elaboration of his foreign policy vision. Mr. Margvelashvili’s visit to Ukraine and his meeting with the American Vice-Minister, Joe Biden, shook them up; an active President simply contradicts their belief as per which the Chief Executive must be an inert figure and must “isolate himself from the outer world,” says the respondent.
“Today, they are making really strenuous efforts to replace the head of the country with a head of the Government on the international arena. For the sake of argument, we can assume that by doing this they wanted to assist Gharibashvili to set up in the international stage as a political leader, but … everything has its limit and they must hold back from crossing the line. Once again I repeat the posts of the President and that of the PM are two absolutely different posts and the PM’s move to take on the responsibilities of the President and participate in high-level meetings without agreeing on his decision with the High Executive in advance to say the least of it is embarrassing,” announces Margvelashvili’s former advisor.
EU losing its tug-of-war with Russia – Russia’s South Stream project is moving forward
“The Kremlin’s efforts have yielded the desired results – regardless of the resolution passed by the EU, Russia’s South Stream project has enjoyed support from the countries involved in it thus far. Bulgaria and Serbia have expressed readiness to engage in the dialogues to keep the project running smoothly. Rumania and Hungary have also reassured Russia that they will not thwart them in executing the project,” reports the Rezonansi gazette.
“As you know, in April, the European Union passed a resolution on terminating the “South Stream” project of Russia. The aforementioned resolution spurred the representatives of Russia to launch negotiations with the countries involved in the project… the Russian diplomats succeeded in achieving their objective on the spur of the moment. However, prior to this, foreign News Agencies disseminated information saying that the judgment and criticism the EU and the U.S. had passed upon Russia’s project resulted in Bulgaria’s decision to stop constructing a gas pipe line for “the South Stream” states,” reads the paper.
“Earlier to this, official representative of the European Union, Antoine Kolomban announced that the EU Commission called loudly to Bulgaria to stall the South Stream project because of its incompatibility with the legislation. As the EU claims, Gazprom is not entitled to the legal right to operate in Europe. To bolster up this allegation, they brought the third energy package of the EU as an example and said that a pipe line cannot be owned by a body mining and manufacturing energy resources simultaneously,” writes the author of the article.
“The Serbian authorities have also reversed their decision; a few months ago, a statement on terminating the South Stream project was also made in Belgrade. As vice-President of the country, Zoran Mikhailovich, announced, Serbia is to hold consultations regarding this issue with the EU. However, as BBC reports, in Moscow, Russian Premier Dmitry Medvedev has met with the Serbian Prime Minister who expressed readiness to sign an agreement with regard to the project,” writes the author of the article.
"After dealing with Bulgaria and Serbia, Lavrov is now planning to visit Slovenia and negotiate with its high officials. Thus, all efforts from the EU to axe Russia’s South Stream project have turned out to be futile. Despite the resistance from the EU, Russia is moving forward with its plan in terms of the project,” concludes the author of the article.
Our labor market dwells in stagnation
"Nothing on earth has changed for the better with Georgia’s labor market over the last 6 years. As the specialists allege, in the first half of 2014, neither the unemployment has increased in Georgia nor has the number of employed people gone up. The Employment Centers have also corroborated this information by stating that the present condition of our labor market has been maintained over a year, and, allegedly, neither positive nor negative changes are expected to be brought about in this direction in the immediate future,” reports the Rezonansi gazette.
“As the National Statistics Service informs, unemployment in Georgia was reduced in 2013. Last year, the number of the economically active working-age population hit 66.2 per cent. If compared with the previous year, in 2014, the number of employed people has gone down by 1.2 percent. Vis-à-vis the reduced unemployment rate, the number of socially active people has obviously dropped. As “Saxstat” informs, last year, the number of employed Georgians went up by 0.4 percent. If in 2012, unemployment rate in the country hit 15 percent, in 2013, this figure dropped to 14.6 percent. As for the situation in 2014, no official figures have been released yet,” the article says.
"However, “Saxtat” inserts only the employees of different enterprises in its database and it obviously cannot give a comprehensive picture of today’s situation in Georgia. Thus, in order to work out whether or not the unemployment rate has increased in our country, different economic data must be subjected to a thorough looking-over. “Official information regarding the unemployment rate is not in our hands at this point in time. However, the trenchant observation on this issue enables us to conclude that the Government has not really moved forward with the problem of unemployment in Georgia. The recently released data regarding inflation can also back up our allegation. Deflation strongly suggests that the number of tax-paying citizens in Georgia has not increased and this in its turn points to the fact that the unemployment rate has remained unchanged in our country so far,” maintains economic expert, Soso Archvadze.
“As per the expert, political instability has also had a negative impact on our labor market. “We have thrown the necessity of the restoration of justice into the mix; however, thanks to the negative PR, they have managed to stain the reputation of our Government. Apparently, in the wake of this, a number of investors decided to abstain from carrying out investments here, and this, in its turn, resulted in low the employment rate,” declares Mr. Archvadze.
"Trade Union Head, Irakli Petriashvili, also shares the position as per which our labor market has not advanced in the slightest. In addition, he also alleges that despite the repeatedly amended Labor Code, the inviolable rights of the officials of different bodies are still being breached. “They still refuse to grant employment benefits to those officials who do overtime. Plus, those employed in Trade Unions are still being subjected to incessant pressure etc. Hence, if they want to increase the employment rate in our country, first they must obey the law and only after this can they hold different training course to boost their officials’ professionalism. Otherwise this sphere will dwell in stagnation for ever,” concludes the Trade Union Head.
