Irakli Kobakhidze

Irakli Kobakhidze (ირაკლი კობახიძე; born 25 September 1978) is a Georgian constitutional scholar and politician who is serving as the 16th Prime Minister of Georgia since February 2024.

He has previously served as a Member of the Georgian Parliament from 2016 to 2024, Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia from 2016 to 2019, as vice-president of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 2020 to 2022 and held the post of chairman of Georgian Dream party from 2021 to 2024. Prior to joining politics, he was a professor at the Tbilisi State University and continues to teach there to this day.

Kobakhidze's government accelerated the deterioration of relations with the West, with his government being accused of sabotaging Georgia’s EU membership bid. The United States announced sanctions against Kobakhidze, members of his government, and the members of the Georgian Dream party for "undermining democracy in Georgia." His rhetoric has been widely described as anti-Western, with him accusing the West of pushing Georgia into "opening a second front" and joining the Russo-Ukrainian War on numerous occasions.

Early life
Irakli Kobakhidze was born on 25 September 1978 in Tbilisi. His father, Giorgi (Gia) Kobakhidze, was a member of the Parliament in the third and fourth legislature, becoming its vice-president, for the National Democratic Party, and was also member of the Democratic Movement – United Georgia until 2015. Irakli graduated from the Law Faculty of Tbilisi State University in 2000. Later, from 2002 to 2006, he advanced his legal education at the University of Düsseldorf, Germany, where he was awarded a master's degree in law and a PhD in 2006.

Between 2000 and 2001 he was the regional coordinator of the public education project of the United States Agency for International Development and, between 2006 and 2014, as a project expert and project manager at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Between 2005 and 2012 Kobakhidze was assistant professor at the Tbilisi State University and associate professor of the Caucasus University between 2011 and 2014. He was also a member of the "Open Society-Georgia Foundation"' committee of experts of the human rights and rule of law program and member of the Georgian delegation to the Council of Europe between 2011 and 2012. Since 2014 he has been an associate professor at Tbilisi State University.

Early political career (2015–2016)
In 2015, Kobakhidze was appointed as Executive Secretary of Georgia's ruling party Georgian Dream, alongside Secretary General Kakha Kaladze. As the deputy campaign manager for the 2016 parliamentary election, and the campaign manager for the 2017 local elections, he played an important role in the party's landslide victories. In 2016, Kobakhidze was himself elected to the Georgian Parliament by party list.

Chairman of Parliament (2016–2019)
On 18 November 2016, Kobakhidze was appointed as Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia with 118 votes in favour and 3 against. Under his tenure, Inter-Parliamentary Assemblies between Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova and Georgia and Poland were established. In addition, strategic cooperation agreements were signed with a number of the Parliaments of the partner countries such as the Poland, Latvia, Uzbekistan and Serbia. On his initiative, the plenary session room of the Parliament was given the name of the first democratically elected president of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia.

Utilizing the supermajority Georgian Dream now possessed, the parliament under Kobakidze's leadership made grand amendments to the constitution. Changes include making the country a parliamentary republic, transferring the electoral system to a fully proportional one by 2024, abolishing direct presidential elections, and extending the term of the president from 5 to 6 years.

Kobakhidze made the decision to resign from the chairmanship in the aftermath of the 2019 Georgian protests.

He was succeeded by Archil Talakvadze. Kobakhidze continued to serve as a member of parliament.

2020 election and the Chairmanship of Georgian Dream (2019–2024)
Kobakhidze was reelected in the 2020 parliamentary election. On 11 January 2021, he was chosen the new chairman of the Georgian Dream.

Kobakhidze's Chairmanship coincided with the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and played an important role in how the party responded to the conflict. He expressed support for Ukraine and condemned Russia's actions, however, the relationship soon soured between the two countries. Between February and July 2022, Kobakhidze made 9 comments critical of Russia but a total of 26 hostile remarks about Ukraine and a further 57 about the West. The main hostility stemmed from the fact that Secretary of the National Security Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov stated that Georgia would "greatly help" Ukraine by "opening a second front" against Russia. Kobakhidze criticized Ukrainian officials for pursuing their own interests at the expense of Georgia, saying that "opening a second front" would alleviate Ukraine's situation, but bring suffering and destruction to Georgia as Russia's army is considerably stronger and well equipped compared to Georgia's. Kobakhidze said that Georgia had the military means to "make the situation worse for Russia", but doing so would "come at the cost of destroying Georgia". Kobakhidze later elaborated that there was a coordinated effort by the "global war party" to drag Georgia into the war.



In June 2022, the European Parliament passed several resolutions against the Georgian government and refused to grant Georgia candidate status. Kobakhidze criticized these actions and said that they were influenced by the "Global War Party". He added that Georgia would not deviate from its path towards EU membership and that it would continue the process of EU integration, while calling the US and EU to "distance themselves from calls for Georgia to engage in war". After much delay, in December 2023, Georgia was finally granted EU candidate status. Kobakhidze attributed the achievement to the Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, who, in his words, “laid the foundation” to replace “Soviet-style authoritarianism” with “European-style democratic and fair governance”.

Prime Minister of Georgia (2024–present)
In early February of 2024, Kobakhidze and Irakli Garibashvili switched posts, with Garibashvili becoming the chairman of Georgian Dream and Kobakhidze being confirmed as the Prime Minister on 8 February. He outlined the government's priorities as ending the Russian occupation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and the elimination of poverty. Kobakhidze retained the same cabinet as his predecessor, but he appointed a new Minister of Defense.



Although Kobakhidze's first official trip as Prime Minister was held in Brussels on 20-21 February, his term has seen significantly deteriorating relations with the West. Recent legislation passed by his government, particularly the "foreign agents" bill which is intended to curb western influence in the country, has been widely condemned for being incompatible with the country's Euro-Atlantic aspirations. Some analysts claimed the "foreign agents" bill may not be necessarily aimed against European integration, but rather to bargain with EU.

On 23 May 2024, Kobakhidze expanded the "Global War Party" conspiracy theory, and accused it of being responsible for the attempted assassination of Robert Fico. He also accused the Hungarian EU commissioner Olivér Várhelyi of threatening his life. He later elaborated: ""However, even in the face of prolonged blackmail, the threat voiced during a telephone conversation with one of the European Commissioners was shocking. During our conversation, the European Commissioner listed a number of measures that Western politicians might take if the veto on the transparency law is overcome. While listing these measures, he mentioned, "You've seen what happened to Fico and you should be very careful."" Kobakhidze also stated his desire for an investigation into the alleged death threat.

Political positions
Kobakhidze has made claims that the West is trying to push Georgia into the Russo-Ukrainian War and open a "second front" of war on the Georgian territory; his rhetoric has been described as "anti-European" and "anti-American". In February 2024, when the State Security Service of Georgia announced discovery of Ukrainian explosives on Georgian territory, Kobakhidze repeated his claims that Georgia is being dragged into war: "This once again confirms what, in principle, the high-ranking officials of the Ukrainian government openly said that they wanted and probably still want: a second front in our country".

In May 2024, Kobakhidze emphasized the importance of safeguarding Georgia's independence in light of the lessons learned from Ukraine's experience. He highlighted the adverse effects of the Euromaidan on Ukraine, pointing out the external influence on the country's leadership and the subsequent lack of accountability for the turmoil that followed. By drawing attention to Ukraine's economic decline, territorial loss, and human casualties, Kobakhidze underscored the need for Georgia to prioritize its independence and protect its interests.

Personal life
Kobakhidze is married to Natalia Motsonelidze, with whom he has two children.

Besides Georgian, Kobakhidze speaks English, German and Russian.

Awards

 * Honoris causa from Belarusian State University (2017)
 * "Parliamentary Order of Freedom" (Parliament of Georgia, 2021)
 * "Sabino Arana prize" (Basque Nationalist Party, 2023)

Works

 * "Law of Political Unions" (2008)
 * "Constitutional Law" (2019)