**Kobakhidze Defends Government’s EU Stance**
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Prime Minister of Georgia, met with his cabinet to discuss the country’s decision to move away from the European Union. He responded to a wave of letters from government employees expressing their disagreement with this change.
Kobakhidze said that these people were “self-cleansing” and had problems understanding what was written or said. He promised to finish this process, but some reports suggest that government appointees are pressuring civil servants who disagreed to resign.
**President Slams Government’s Actions**
President Salome Zurabishvili took to social media to criticize Kobakhidze’s actions. She wrote that the Prime Minister was “illegitimate” and might be going to the Foreign Ministry to threaten employees. She warned that anyone who signed protests would be fired through a process called “reorganization”.
**Watchdogs Speak Out**
Three organizations, Transparency International – Georgia, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), and the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), held a briefing to respond to the Prime Minister’s statement. They said that civil servants cannot be fired for declaring their commitment to constitutional principles.
The watchdogs also stated that forcing public employees to resign was a crime, as outlined in Article 169 of the Criminal Code. They called on government officials to act in accordance with the constitution and laws.
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