At Courtyard Marriott luxury hotel, “Democratic Movement – United Georgia” party arranged a presentation of “the main directions of the country’s security conception”.

The presentation was attended by experts, Opposition leaders and the diplomats accredited in Georgia.

The document drawn up by “The Democratic Movement” and independent experts aims at elaborating the national security conception based on the present realities.

The document describes President Saakshvili’s regime as a system of institutions inherent to a classical authoritarian rule, which means:

virtual merger of the political and public institutions and staffing them according to partisan loyalty;

neglect of checks and balances;

single-handed rule of the legislative, executive and judicial branches of power by the President and his team;

non-transparent governance;

involvement of unauthorized persons or institutions in political and even military decision-making;

non-democratic, unfair and unfree elections;

criminalization of the authorities;

the Police terror, violation of the dissidents’ civil rights through physical, psychological and economic leverages;

the creation of the illegitimate paramilitary formations, the co-called sonder brigades and their use against the peaceful civilians;

media control;

illicit monopoly of the national media channels by the public institutions;

infringement of private property;

tight control over the economy by the government clans;

the unstable and inconsistent legal framework;

the neutralization of the democratic institutions, terrorization of the population and obstruction of the Western values.

“Regardless of disastrous consequences of last August’s war, the authorities “did not get around” to harmonizing the country’s security conception with the reality. “The Democratic Movement” presented its vision of the country’s internal and external hazards of which the inadequacy of the authorities is the most important, along with the steps forming the main reason behind unavailability of certain institutions and, consequently, creating Georgia’s

image of an unreliable partner. From a subject of international relationships Georgia is gradually becoming an object thereof, the trend we regard as most concerning. The country is losing its function both in the region and on the international arena” – Ms. Nino Burjanadze stated.

The document reflects the settlement of all the disputes through peaceful, political and diplomatic means as the main priority in meeting the national interests, as well as planning and implementation of the national security policy.

Regarding the guidelines of the national security policy, the main directions of the conception contain the following crucial conditions:

transparency and predictability;

conceptual basis  of the security policy;

relevant staffing of the political institutions;

due regard to the legitimate interests of the partner and neighboring countries (both on the global and regional levels) and consideration of the world developments;

averting major fluctuations;

building on the declared political guidelines and a consistent implementation thereof.

The conception presented by “The Democratic Movement – United Georgia” singles out the law enforcement bodies as a threat to the country’s security and development because of the Interior Ministry’s monopoly over the information collection, application and processing, which makes the Intelligence, counterintelligence etc. nearly redundant.

The national security conception directions embrace the defense, border patrolling, public and energy sectors, environment protection, informational, socio-economic etc. areas.

The conception authors believe that the determination of the public security policy requires dismantlement of the inadequate and, in some cases, blatantly criminal law enforcement bodies. They suggest that the reorganization of the Interior Ministry should result in the formation of the Municipal Police and the National Bureau of Investigation, the abolition of political persecution and creation of non-politicized legal bodies; the disengagement of the Police from economic crime combat.

Evaluating the document, Mr. Ramaz Sakvarelidze, political analyst, singled out the fact that it focuses not only on the external but internal challenges as well. In his words, when a country does not have a robust internal stance, preoccupation with the external threats is unacceptable.

Mr. Irakli Sesiashvili, security expert, believes that the results of last August’s war and the present political situation make the new security conception essential.

“Only in case of political stability, which requires transparent governance and due regard to the interests of all the social groups and fields by the authorities can the security conception be viable and adequate to the crisis”, Mr. Irakli Sesiashvili remarked.

“The public is more or less aware of the external threats to the country but less so of the internal ones and the ratio between the two. The security conception elaborated by “The Democratic Movement” and independent experts emphasizes the threat that the regime poses to Georgia by identifying itself with the State and promoting a misleading understanding of its criticism as anti-State activities.

The security policy should be extremely transparent and predictable. Only a citizen of a democratic country can feel secure. The document makes it evident that there is a direct link between the democracy and national security levels”, -Mr. Kakha Katsitadze, political expert and one of the creators of the conception said.

“The national security conception implies the establishment of the essentially different relationships within the context of the EU Eastern Relations and Neighborhood Policy. The document calls for drafting the targeted and effective projects within the framework of the Neighborhood policy. It also emphasizes the necessity of drawing up comprehensive EU-Georgia treaties within the format of the EU Eastern Relations and Neighborhood Policy, which will embrace cooperation in the security issues and define programs in the area. To make Georgia’s integration with Europe irreversible, it should be institutionalized and the country’s NATO membership should be regarded as a means of meeting its national interests and objectives.

Georgia’s relations with the USA are of extreme relevance to the national security.

The authors of the document single out normalization of Georgia’s relationships with Russia as a foreign and security policy objective to be achieved via the withdrawal of the Russian troops and due regard to Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as the mutual legitimate interests.

In evaluating the conception, Mr. Archil Gegeshidze, political analyst said that it was a rare case of drawing up a well-structured, reality-congruent and future-oriented document outside the government control.

“The authorities often claim that the Opposition does not put forward an alternative vision and is limited to a negative approach instead. Meanwhile, here we have an accurate and a very interesting document, which not only testifies to the Party’s intellectual potential but its capability of outsourcing, which is a very good example of a viable cooperation.

We should not expect the conception to be the action plan, which is within the scope of the government”, -Mr. Archil Gegeshidze said finally.

The experts summed up the forum by saying that the sheer fact of the national security conception being worked upon and considered was unprecedented and welcome.