Georgia's ruling party may be expelled from Party of European Socialists

Vice-President of the Party of European Socialists (PES) Katy Piri has said that there is unanimity in the PES to cease the observer status of Georgia’s ruling party Georgian Dream.

The Party of European Socialists is made up of national-level political parties from all EU member states as well as from outside the EU, Georgia Online writes.

PES is now led by former Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Leuven. Its political grouping in the European Parliament is the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.

According to Piri, no one else in the Alliance "supports this party [Georgian Dream]".

Back in March, socialists were concerned about the statements made by Georgian Dream leaders regarding the "foreign agents law", Piri noted.

"The big concern was not even the law, but the statements made by the representatives of the ruling party - the mayor of Tbilisi, the party leader or the prime minister. We were very concerned and decided to send a fact-finding mission to Georgia in March.

But once we saw that it was acceptable for Garibashvili and his party to speak at an ultra-conservative non-democratic political congress, the fact-finding mission was no longer necessary," Piri said.

Another member of the Party of European Socialists, MEP Theiss Roiten commented on the possible exclusion of Georgia's ruling party, expressing hope that the Georgian Dream will no longer go the way of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to him, it is Orban and right-wing forces that are associated with the Georgian government today.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili reacted to Piri's statement by saying that conclusions would also be drawn within the party, "perhaps before the Socialists meet in June".

"We will not tolerate violence against minorities and aggressive propaganda against the majority of our population and our people. These rights are guaranteed by the constitution, moreover, we have enshrined it all in law, and there is no human discrimination in the country," Garibashvili responded.

In early May, the Party of European Socialists condemned Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili's speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Hungary.