The Mayor of Tbilisi: 'Georgia wants a Europe without masters. No pro-Russian steps"

As for the two laws, the law 'on family values and the protection of minors' is only directed against LGBT propaganda. In our country, all human rights, such as freedom of speech and expression, are well protected. We do not differentiate people on the basis of religion, gender or sexual orientation. We do not have this attitude and for us all citizens are equal. Whatever personal relationships are a private matter, but the promotion of this is unacceptable, especially among children. In Georgia, family is important and the definition of family is the union of a man and a woman.

Regarding the law 'On the transparency of foreign influences', we have heard and continue to hear speculation and lies. How can transparency be contrary to European values or democratic processes? The law mentioned only requires one thing: non-governmental organisations must fill out a declaration at the end of the year, explaining to the public from whom they received these funds and on which specific projects they spent them, but they do not want to do even this, because it is from the outside that evil in the country, deepening polarisation, revolutionary scenarios and extremist groups are financed. They do not want it to become public who is fighting against our faith, our patriarch, our statehood. This is precisely the campaign of lies we are witnessing, otherwise how could a harmless law that only demands transparency be problematic? We want Europe, a European future, but not in the way that some from outside are suggesting and pointing at us.

Could there be a risk, should Georgian Dream win a large victory, that all opposition parties would be banned?  In particular, the National Movement, a party linked to former President Mikhail Saakashvili, who also ended up in prison, and to whom Georgian Dream blames the 2008 conflict with Russia.

The Georgian Dream will definitely win, because it enjoys the greatest support in the country and has the greatest chance of gaining a constitutional majority. Of course we will start working on banning a particular political party, here we are not talking about all political parties. I am referring to the political party that has committed crimes against the country, those that have committed treasonous acts, and those satellites that have facilitated this evil by carrying out instructions from outside. As a result, we lost territories, we lost our heroic soldiers as well as inocent citizens, infrastructures, territories: all this we achieved by carrying out those tasks from outside. Therefore, everyone must answer for these treasonous actions.

Regarding the banning of a political party, there are examples if we look at how these processes have played out over the last 50 years. In Ukraine, specific parties were banned. Europe and America saw this as a democratic process and welcomed it. In Moldova, I think all opposition parties were completely banned and this was also evaluated positively. That is, there is a double standard.

The Georgian youth look to Europe. One gets the impression instead that Georgian Dream looks to Russia. How do you experience this situation?

The majority of the population of our country wants the country to become a member of the European Union. Of course, the majority supports the values associated with Europe, and we also welcome that. We welcome it, because it is all based on Christian principles and it is very valuable to us. We want such a Europe, but not the one that some MEPs and senior officials are telling us from outside, that we should be submissive, like slaves, to what they order us to do. That it may be a step against the interest of our country and we still have to do it. Why is there such great pressure against Georgia? Why have we not opened a second front in the country and joined the sanctions?

But that would have been devastating for us and for the whole country. That is why they went crazy and carried out false campaigns against the Georgian government. Give me one specific reason why what the Georgian government has done can be considered close to Russia. There is no such thing.

If we have achieved any success on the road to European integration, it was all under the Georgian Dream Government. After the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine, there were direct appeals to Georgia to get involved in the war, to open a second front, because they themselves cannot get involved in the war, they are NATO members. A war between Russia and NATO would break out, and that is why countries like Ukraine and Georgia must be sacrificed as cannon fodder, and we will not allow this under any circumstances, we will never take this step. We will always protect our country and our country's interests. Some young people here may not realise this. However, the majority of the population of our country actually sees the danger and the challenges. That is why 'Georgian Dream' has so much support and backing from the people. Of course, our course is European and we see our future in Europe, but not in Europe as some MEPs constrain us. In a Europe where values exist and diversity is what makes Europe interesting. If we are all stamped the same (if we are all the same), as we were during the Soviet Union, then such unions are not really interesting.

So where do you see the future of Georgia?

As far as the future of Georgia is concerned, the values on which Europe is founded are important to us. All the reforms and European integration that have been done in recent years are related to the period after 2012. Not a single example can be cited where the Georgian authorities took such a step that was pro-Russian or served Russian interests. Impossible, there is nothing like that in nature. The first thing we do is defend our country, we defend ourselves, we defend the independence and sovereignty of our country, which our ancestors fought for. We need friends, we need partners and we do not need masters. With great difficulty and price, we managed to free ourselves from the Soviet Union because we wanted independence, we wanted freedom. This approach and attitude is shared by the majority of the population of our country.