Translated material
Premier by November
Mikheil Saakashvili distracts the opposition by changing the head of government
Georgia yesterday learned the name of the new prime minister - the president recommended 35-year-old career diplomat, ambassador to Turkey, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina Grigol Mgaloblishvili for this position. Tbilisi expected that the August conflict would lead to personnel changes in the government. However, most often experts named the future head of the cabinet of the 34-year-old permanent representative of Georgia to the UN, Irakli Alasania, whose nomination was allegedly lobbied by the Americans.According to Georgian media, President Mikheil Saakashvili actually discussed this possibility with Alasania, but he demanded that control over the security forces, which now report to the president, be transferred to him. Without receiving consent, the permanent representative to the UN refused the promotion, and Mr. Saakashvili preferred another diplomat to him.
“I personally know Mgaloblishvili well, he is a very talented and energetic young man,” Levan Berdzenishvili, one of the leaders of the opposition Republican Party, told Vremya Novostei. - But this is not a public politician. In my opinion, with this appointment Saakashvili wants to once again emphasize the importance of his own person, since the president does not delegate any real functions to the prime minister.”
The outgoing prime minister, 37-year-old Vladimir Gurgenidze, led the Georgian government for 11 months . If this time a military conflict led to the change of prime minister, last year the internal political crisis played a decisive role. After the brutal suppression of opposition rallies in November 2007, Mikheil Saakashvili changed the head of his cabinet to remove himself from criticism from his opponents. Previously, Mr. Gurgenidze headed the Bank of Georgia; now he will be entrusted with developing a strategy for Georgia to overcome financial problems caused by the global crisis and the August events.
Grigol Mgaloblishvili is an even more neutral figure than his predecessor. He served as ambassador for four years. Before heading the Georgian mission in three countries with headquarters in Ankara, the diplomat headed the Europe department at the Foreign Ministry. His foreign policy career began in 1995 in Turkey with work at the Georgian trade mission. Mgaloblishvili speaks English, German, Turkish and Russian; he studied at Tbilisi and Istanbul universities, as well as Oxford.
In the coming days, Grigol Mgaloblishvili will present to parliament the personal composition of the new cabinet. Georgian media do not rule out the resignation of the ministers of defense and foreign affairs. Last Saturday, a special parliamentary commission began hearing testimony from government members about how prepared they were for the August events. Officials in unison accuse Russia of “treachery.” However, apparently, President Saakashvili and his entourage will have to take into account the commission’s verdict, if only in order to reassure society on the eve of new domestic political upheavals.
Next week, on the anniversary of the mass protests of November 7, 2007, the opposition will begin a new wave of anti-government protests. Yesterday, ex-speaker of parliament Nino Burjanadze announced that she was returning to politics. On November 23, the fifth anniversary of the Rose Revolution, which removed Eduard Shevardnadze from power, she will hold the founding congress of her democratic movement, United Georgia. Nino Burjanadze has promised to be uncompromising against her former ally Mikheil Saakashvili, accusing him of “authoritarianism.”
One of these days, Zurab Nogaideli, who served as Prime Minister of Georgia in 2005-2007, will announce the creation of his own opposition party. Yesterday he told the newspaper "Kviris Palitra" ("Palette of the Week") that after the August conflict the country is in a state of severe crisis: "Very soon, economic, social and psychological problems will simultaneously make themselves felt."