Relations with US being reset step-by-step, says Georgia’s ruling party official

A reset in relations between Georgia and the United States would have seemed “like a fairy tale” a year ago, but relations damaged under the previous administration are now being rebuilt step by step, said on Sunday Levan Machavariani, the first deputy chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party faction in the legislative body.

In his interview with Imedi TV, Machavariani noted that the Georgian government has “very positive expectations”, while the position of the previous US administration “did not reflect the position of the American people” but rather “the unfair stance of a specific administration”.

“About a year ago, if someone had said that relations with the United States had to be reset, everyone would have thought it was a fairy tale. However, everyone can see how we are gradually rebuilding relations damaged by the previous administration, because the administration has changed, approaches have changed, and we see there is interest in resetting relations with us”, the official said.

Speaking about the European Union, Machavariani noted that an “unfair attitude” toward Georgia was “not the position of the European people”, but rather that of “the ruling class”, which he said would change if the ruling class itself changed.

“One option is for this ruling class to accept that it cannot replace the Georgian Dream either through revolution or elections, since both have been attempted several times in our country. They should sit down and talk to us because they need us very much”, he said.

Machavariani added that the role of the Middle Corridor had increased significantly and argued that, at the very least, pragmatically and in their own interests, European actors should recognise Georgia on the map and acknowledge that the country is “the backbone of the Middle Corridor”.

He concluded by emphasising that if neither of the first two scenarios materialised, “European people, like the American people, should reject the ineffective propaganda and replace the ruling class”.