Saturday, August 2, 2025

Free Democrats leader leaves politics after failing to get into parliament

irakli_alasaniaTBILISI, DFWatch–Former Georgian defense minister Irakli Alasania said Monday that he is quitting politics ‘temporarily’ after his party failed to surpass the 5% threshold in the parliamentary elections.

Alasania’s statement came after the Central Election Commission (CEC)

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Georgia expects visa free travel with Schengen by 2016

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Georgia’s Minister for Euro-Integration Alexi Petriashvili. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–The Georgian government hopes its country’s citizens will be able to travel to Schengen countries visa free from 2016 at the latest.

Minister for Euro-Atlantic Integration Alexi Petriashvili said on Monday that he hopes to see the first phase

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NATO ambassadors encourage new Georgian government

The Prime Minister of Georgia visits NATO
Georgian PM Irakli Gharibashvili (left), NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen and State Minister for Euro-Integration Alexi Petriashvili. (Official photo.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–The new Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili says NATO ambassadors gave him positive signals at Wednesday’s meeting of the NATO-Georgia commission in Brussels.

Gharibashvili said the ambassadors told him the new government has strengthened

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Open Society report highlights progress in Georgia's reforms

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Minister for Euro-Integration Alexi Petriashvili (center) and head of Open Society Georgia Keti Khutsishvili (right). (OSGF.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–The Open Society Foundations in Georgia and Armenia say in a new report that there is “some progress” in several areas of Georgia’s efforts to fulfill its European aspirations and existing challenges during.

The report, which was presented a few days ago,

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NATO Accession Not a Right, but a Reward

While the Free Democrats strongly support the idea of Georgia’s accession to NATO, the government’s language with which the path to achieving this has recently been described, as “inevitable and irreversible,” reflects the wrong attitude for success, in our view. As a club of democracies, NATO requires of its members sound and lasting commitment to … Read more