Brussels, 11/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - Concerned at signs of deterioration of the power-sharing arrangement between the Georgian Dream party of Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvilli and the United National Movement party of President Mikheil Saakashvili, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Füle called, on 9 February, on all actors in Georgia “to refrain from instrumentalising the processes or institutions of the state for partisan or for party political purposes”.
Ashton and Füle stressed their concerns about the confrontation on constitutional issues and surrounding the Georgian president's annual address, and about the violent incidents in the centre of Tbilisi on 8 February ahead of this address. They “call upon all parties to act in a responsible way, and to refrain from any violence”, they added in a press release.
“The EU considers it of paramount importance for the future of Georgia's democracy that all political actors and institutions in Georgia be accorded due respect, in line with our shared European values”, Ashton and Füle stressed.
On 8 February, the mayor of the city and members of parliament from the president's party were attacked by demonstrators ahead of President Mikheil Saakashvili's address. Saakashvili had to give his address at the presidential palace and not the national library as initially planned. (CG/transl.fl)