PM Hits Back at ‘Unjustified’ Criticism from President

(UPDATE: adds in the last paragraph President Margvelashvili’s comment on PM’s remarks)

PM Irakli Garibashvili said that criticism, voiced by President Giorgi Margvelashvili in his state of the nation address in the Parliament, was “unjustified, unfair” and “incomprehensible.”

In his annual address in the Parliament on March 31, President Margvelashvili criticized the way the country is governed, speaking out against what he called “parallel” structures and warning against weakening of state institutions. In the speech he raised for number of times, what he called, the problem of “systemic parallelism” involving setting up of numerous parallel councils and commissions under the Prime Minister with overlapping functions be it in economy, foreign policy or other areas.
 
“We hear unjustified and unfair criticism of government members and government’s work from the President, who is our team member,” Garibashvili said.

“This is very regrettable for me. I want to remind everyone that people elected us not because of listening to President’s criticism of the government or my response to him. I think it is shame; we simply have no time for that. We cannot afford wasting time on issues, which do not represent a priority for our population,” the PM said.

Garibashvili said that he has always been open for meetings with the President and the latter “has never asked a question” to the PM about how the government or its councils and agencies work.

He then spoke about the role of economic and other councils, chaired by the PM, and said that he is explaining functioning of these councils to the people and not to the President.

“If he had phoned me and asked me, I would have explained to him. It’s bad that he chose other way and voiced criticism publicly,” the PM said, adding that this and some other councils, be it on economy or security and crisis management, which he chairs, were set up to provide “better coordination” between various ministries in tackling various specific issues. 

“Such belittling assessment is completely incomprehensible for me and I want to call on everyone, including the President, to keep in mind that such rhetoric harms the state and we are underestimating our ministers, their work and important institutions with such rhetoric,” PM Garibashvili said.

In his speech the President complained that although he asked twice the government to summon a meeting with his participation to discuss the implementation of substantial package of cooperation with NATO “so far I have received no response from the government.” Substantial package for Georgia was approved by the Alliance at its summit in Wales in September, which was attended by President Margvelashvili. Under the constitution the President, which has less powers than the PM, has the right to ask the government to hold a meeting to discuss any issue.

PM Garibashvili tried to justify snubbing President’s request by saying that NATO integration “falls under government’s competence.”

“No one should meddle roughly in our competences,” Garibashvili said. “Oversight over efficiency of government’s work is assessed by the Parliament and the people. If someone is interested in any particular information, we are ready to provide them such information.”

Commenting on PM’s remarks later on the same day, President Margvelasvhili told journalists: “I welcome the fact that the prime minister, as well as ministers, study thoroughly content of my address. I think that studying of this issue so thoroughly will have a positive effect on efficiency and strength of governance system in Georgia.”

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