On 22 February, the Prime Minister candidate of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) Irakli Garibashvili presented his government program and cabinet.

Garibashvili emphasised that the resumption of order in the country, Covid-19 vaccination and drafting a 10-year “ambitious plan” for state development would be the major priorities of the new government in the first 100 days. “We have been reaping the results of the mistakes we committed in the past 30 years. Of course, there are ill-willers, internal and external enemies, objective difficulties in our country. But we must tell the truth that we did many wrong things by ourselves consciously or unconsciously, also attributed to incompetence, ignorance, and mercantile goals,” he stated.

Regarding the political crisis in the country, Garibashvili said that the “return of the destructive forces to the constitutional frames” would be on the top of the agenda. He stated that the government would be ready for dialogue “with the healthy part of the opposition.” “I urge the opposition that the country’s future is the very ground for consensus. Our political positions may never draw closer to each other, but a healthy opposition, a discussion could help us refine them. People request their real problems be resolved. We should unite around the interests of society, our people, not a political program,” Garibashvili said. Speaking on the opposition United National Movement (UNM), Garibashvili stated that the UNM’s leader Nika Melia is a criminal because he was found guilty by the court in the Cartu Bank case and that his chairmanship over the party would not be an “alibi” to escape justice.

Additionally, Garibashvili said that the new government would lift several Covid-19 restrictions this week and that the country would receive the Covid-19 vaccines in March instead of February. This was confirmed by the Head of Infectious Diseases and AIDS Centre Tengiz Tsertsvadze. “According to the negotiations the first doses of vaccine should already have been in Georgia, although agreements are not always strictly completed on time and the process is slightly delayed. Georgia will receive Covid-19 vaccine one or two weeks later… I do not think it will be a tragedy if the vaccination plan is implemented as well as promised,” said Tsertsvadze. 

On an economic scale, Garibashvili stated that he would “personally get involved” in making “any decisions” to help businesses in the country. He emphasised that social and economic problems caused by the pandemic were severe and the government would have to ensure “10 times more effort” for the welfare of the country’s population. 

Finally, Garibashvili also addressed Georgia’s plans for applying for EU membership, emphasising that a properly developed economy and strengthened protection of human rights could lead Georgia to take a worthy place in the international balance of power. “We have made an ambitious statement to apply for the EU membership in 2024. If we do not fundamentally change our approaches, we cannot achieve that goal. No one will accept us in the European Union just by imposing abstract regulations and approaches on paper,” Garibashvili stated.

Garibashvili also named his cabinet members which included two new faces, namely the candidates for the minister of infrastructure and defence. Maia Tskitishvili, who has served the country’s regional development and infrastructure minister since 2018 has resigned and her deputy, Irakli Karseladze, has been nominated as her replacement. Juansher Burchuladze who previously served as the Georgian deputy defence minister has been nominated for defence minister, replacing Garibashvili in the role. 

Following Garibashvili’s nomination, the opposition parties in the country announced that they were ready to postpone the rally scheduled for 25 February. Khatia Dekanoidze from the UNM stated at the joint briefing of the opposition that there is no alternative to negotiations.

Georgia’s former president and the UNM candidate for the prime minister spot in the October 2020 elections, Mikhael Saakashvili also assessed Garibashvili’s nomination. “The situation is clear: Georgian society, along with the international community, wants no repressions; they don’t want to witness violence, or unrest or chaos in the country. All the opposition parties, big or small, are united as one, in defence mode, and in my opinion, because of this, Ivanishvili has no chance, neither through Garibashvili nor through other criminals, of implementing any forceful actions,” he stated. “The aim to give Georgian people back the right to choose, and for the parliamentary elections to be carried out without them being rigged, because the recent election was stolen by the Georgian Dream. They told Georgians that the elections will never take place. No nation that values itself would tolerate this, and the Georgian nation does not tolerate it. This is a completely natural instinct,” he added.