21 Apr, 2022
Today marks exactly 10 years since the official establishment of our party – The Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia. Exactly 10 years ago, on 21st April 2012, the founding congress of the party was held.
During its 10 years of existence, The Georgian Dream has played a crucial role in the recent history of our country.
Since 2012, The Georgian Dream has deservedly won the mandate of public trust nine times in a row, for which we once again express our gratitude to the Georgian people. It is our greatest responsibility and daily job to justify and honor this trust.
We are especially grateful to the founders of our party, more than 40 thousand members, thousands of youth organization members and 100 thousand supporters, who are loyal and committed to the interests of the Georgian state, and congratulate them on the party anniversary.
Back in 2012, when our party was founded with the leadership and guidance of Bidzina Ivanishvili, country was in the most devastating condition – democracy and human rights were infringed by the authoritarian regime, human dignity and life were at stake, torture and inhuman treatment were a routine malpractice, inhuman policy of criminal justice was institutionalized, freedom of public gathering was suppressed with violence from the authorities, so-called elite corruption and business racketeering was overarching malpractice; judiciary, prosecution, Ministry of Interior and other law-enforcement bodies served autocracy rather than justice and acted as a main tool of repression; media freedom was non-existent and every leading media outlet was flattering dictatorship rather than enjoying the freedom of speech; people were deprived of the right of choice; country had a fragile economy and 30 percent of the population lived below the poverty threshold; no effective mechanism existed for the social security of the population; no healthcare services were effective either; from 2003 to 2012 population of Georgia shrunk by 225,000 people; authorities of the country led to the loss of 20 percent of the sovereign territories in favor of Russia, 30 000 individuals turned into internally displaced persons; progress of Georgia in terms of integration with western structures was halted.
It was in this difficult and challenging situation that The Georgian Dream under the leadership of Bidzina Ivanishvili made the democratic transformation happen towards the development of the country. Bidzina Ivanishvili and The Georgian Dream have restored freedom and democracy to the people, which is an essential condition for the progress and development of a country.
The systematic malpractice manifesting in the abuse of human rights and dignity, torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of people has been suppressed. The number of prisoners was reduced by 2.5 times and their mortality rate by 12 times. Number of applications to the European Court of Human Rights declined 11 times from the very first years. Media freedom and pluralism is ensured at a high degree. Systemic malpractice of election rigging has been eradicated and elected governance is formed in accordance with the public will. Economic freedom and property rights are protected with a high standard. Country has a new Constitution, which fully corresponds to the best European practice and standard of parliamentary democracies.
Judiciary, prosecution and the Ministry of Interior are no longer used as a repression tool, which is evidenced by a great number of studies carried out by reputable international organizations and vividly demonstrated by statistical data. From the very first years, the number of acquittals increased 6 times in the national judicial system, while the ratio of pre-trial and administrative detention decreased 3 times and the rate of satisfaction of motions for investigative actions decreased 2 times. The total amount of the imposed fines was reduced 5 times, while the total amount of bail outs was reduced 18 times.
Irrespective of the global economic crisis in 2014 and 2020, the national economy of Georgia grew from 27 to 60 billion in 2012-2021. While the revenues to the State Budget increased from 8 to 19.5 billion. So-called elite corruption has been eradicated and studies commissioned by all the highly qualified international organizations evidence that Georgia is a leading country in the region in terms of fighting corruption. Speed of road infrastructure works increased 3 times. Volume of water supply efforts increased 10 times. Over 300 000 subscribers have been added to the natural gas supply system. Unprecedented programs have been launched in support of entrepreneurship and agriculture.
In line with the data released by the World Bank, 350 000 citizens overcame poverty and the decline in the size of population has stopped. The universal health care system and other effective mechanisms of social protection of the population have been launched. The budget of the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs of Georgia has been increased 3 times. Funding for education, culture and sports has been tripled as well.
Authorities driven by The Georgian Dream are the first in the country to have no war during its governance. With its pragmatic foreign policy, despite serious security challenges, The Georgian Dream solidified peace and substantially boosted the degree of stability and security in the country. Georgia achieved unprecedented progress in terms of its integration with western structures. Degree of compatibility with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) increased substantially; we signed the Association Agreement (AA) and Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU); we received a visa-free travel arrangement for the citizens of Georgia. Official EU Membership Application is a logical continuation of our consistent effort towards the EU accession shortly leading to a status of an EU Candidate Country.
It is not an exhaustive list of results brought by our party – The Georgian Dream – to our country since 2012. Naturally, a number of faults and errors were witnessed along with the milestone achievements. Nevertheless, what is most important, The Georgian Dream never diverted from its core principles that serve as overarching values of our political endeavors: dignity, freedom and solidarity, patriotism and respect towards the church, protection of state sovereignty and territorial integrity.
We express our sheer gratitude to the founder of the party – Bidzina Ivanishvili – who created our political movement on these very principles and thus formed a solid basis for the democratic breakthrough of the country and dignified development of Georgia.
The Georgian Dream is manifested in two overwhelming goals in our conscience:
First one is the united Georgia, which is regaining not only Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions in a peaceful manner, but our Abkhazian and Ossetian brothers and sisters as well. We perceive Georgia to be a country uniting people through love towards each other. We strongly believe that our dream about united Georgia will most certainly come true.
Second one is Georgia with a European measure of prosperity, whereby no person lives in poverty and every household enjoys a dignified quality of life. Currently, the degree of democratic development in Georgia significantly exceeds that of economic advancement. In such conditions the value of democracy is minor in the perception of the general public. In line with a study carried out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Georgia will be the third in the world and first in continental Europe and Asia with its economic growth rate in 2021-2027, thereby claiming that GDP per capita will increase to 9,200 USD by 2027 and exceed 12,500 USD by 2030 with the same trend. Thus, Georgia will move to the category of high-income countries. It clearly demonstrates that the reference made by the founder of our party – Bidzina Ivanishvili – to 2030 was based on concrete assumptions and that they truly had a solidly rational basis.
Georgia will most certainly become a unified, strongly-performing European economy with national traditions and Christian values. It is what Ilia Chavchavadze, Dimitri Kipiani, Vazha Pshavela, Niko Nikoladze and other great thinkers and statesmen of Georgia were dreaming about. This is what our heroes have been dreaming of when sacrificing the most valuable virtue of all – their life - to Georgia. This is what every single Georgian is dreaming of, to whom the word homeland is most precious and dear.
We are confident that Georgian dream about unified and strong Georgia will most certainly come true!
Together with our society, the solid team of our party will spare no effort to make this dream come true and will continue to fight and work for the benefit and welfare of our country and people!