From standardised textbooks prepared directly by the ministry to uniforms, education in Georgia is returning to the practices of the former Soviet Union. Even the age of enrolment in the first year has been raised to 6, reducing the number of classes in the entire school cycle to 11. The promise: ‘In all schools there will be a single approach, a single standard, a single level of quality.’

Iraklij Kobakhidze defends the appeal to the Constitutional Court to outlaw the main opposition forces and says he wants to remain at the helm of the Georgian government until 2030, ‘hoping that the approaches of the European bureaucracy will change’. The National Movement's accusations: the current administration is increasingly transforming Georgian society into a totalitarian dictatorship.

The Georgian Dream party won all municipal and regional seats in the local elections boycotted by the opposition. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze described the protest rallies that stormed the presidential palace in the centre of the capital as a ‘failed coup attempt’.

While the clash between pro-Russian and pro-European forces continues in the country, the government has committed to guaranteeing the purchase of all grapes that are not bought by the private sector. But according to local winemakers, this policy, a legacy of the Soviet era, does not contribute to improving the quality of production.

The former soccer player and secretary of Georgian Dream wants a third term as mayor of the capital. The Putin-aligned oligarch, the country's “real master,” was present at the party. Anti-Western slogans and threats to expel the EU ambassador. For the opposition, the mayor-champion's new candidacy is yet another anti-Brussels “signal.”

Not only articles but also social media posts are increasingly targeted by the law punishing ‘insults to state officials’, approved by the Georgian Dream-dominated Parliament. According to many commentators, this could be the prelude to the total closure of Facebook in the country.