With just four months since Georgia’s Rose revolution, political campaigning for the forthcoming Georgian parliamentary elections in late March is scarce. The leaders of Georgia’s Rose revolution currently present a unified front and although opposition to the new leadership troika exists, the ousting of former president Shevardnadze has left it largely in tatters. With a platform focusing on further integration into western European political structures (NATO and EU), eradicating corruption as well as improvement of the investment climate, Zurab Zhvania confirms the rumors that the two parties, Zurab Zhvania’s and Nino Burjandze’s “United Democrats” and President Saakashvili’s “National Movement” will merge after the parliamentary elections. The President will chair the new party. Yet there are no signs of internal power struggles -at least not outwardly. - You, see we are all old friends. We already work as an amalgated force and we will have a common focus in the forthcoming elections but technically we will not unify the parties until after the elections. It is natural that the President chairs the party. Besides the forthcoming election being a first litmus test of democratization, an array of challenges awaits the new leadership. But the expectations of Georgians and Western countries on the new leadership on achieving swift reforms do not unsettle the recently appointed Prime Minister. He remains confident in Georgia’s future and in the reforms. Despite the strengthening of the President’s power in the new constitution, Zurab Zhvania still views the position of Prime Minister as vital in managing the vast agenda of reforms and bringing together the interests in the different ministries.

- I regard the role of the Prime minister as crucial in coordinating the reforms. Of course I feel responsible to achieve results, but I am not intimidated. People want results, not talk. The days of declarations are over. Our government wants to achieve a better economic environment and to give people better jobs. I think people realize this.

Although acknowledging that the new leadership is in the process of re-building a society and state and that this is not done in a day, Mr. Zhvania is not intimated by the great expectations that both the Georgians and western donors have on the country. The reform agenda is vast but he specifically emphasizes the reform of the police and civil servants as fundamental to the reforms. The Georgian police are notorious for being the most corrupt part of the public sector and policemen standing on the streets hailing cars and demanding bribes are common view. The Prime Minister wants the police to be closer to ordinary people.

- They should enjoy the respect of the local community and Georgia should not be an old style post-communist police state. This will be brought about by a decentralization of the police force, where they will be under the auspice of locally elected mayors. When discussing another question in Georgian politics, Georgia’s relationship with Russia and the secessionist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the previously very antagonistic Zhvania treads carefully.

- We would like to establish a new kind of relationship with Russia. Not only a relationship based on being neighbours but a friendly equal partnership. This will also benefit Russia. We are committed to a peaceful resolution of the conflicts and very substantial compromises with far-reaching autonomy for the secessionist areas but there will never be a solution to the conflicts without Russia’s positive participation. When asked how he thinks Georgia’s relationship to Russia is affected by the fact that Georgia is dependent on Russian energy supplies, for example from Gazprom, the Prime Minister is silent for a short while before answering: - Of course, if Georgia could find alternative routes of gas supply this would affect our relationship with Russia greatly. Gas supply would no longer be a way for Russia to exert political pressure.

His newly appointed government is young with an average age of 35 and almost all the young men are politically unproven. But the prime minister does not view this as a disadvantage. - I see it as an advantage that they have not been highly involved in politics during the Shevardnadze era but yet have proven skills and competence from international organizations or a western context. Almost all of them have worked at an international organization or studied abroad. All of these guys have their own history of success. Of course, the results of the reforms will show if their youth has been an advantage or a disadvantage, the Prime Minister says, laughing.