On July 18, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen criticising the resolution passed by the European Parliament on June 9 that criticised the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party for its handling of press freedom and demanded sanctions against the former PM and GD founder Bidzina Ivanishvili. According to PM Garibashvili, the resolution's characterization of Ivanishvili as a corrupt oligarch in the leadership of the Georgian government is problematic.

Particularly infuriating to the prime minister were the resolution's criticisms of Ivanishvili's suspected ties to Russia and calls for personal sanctions against him. He highlighted that there is no evidence that Ivanishvili is involved in Georgian politics or the judicial system, nor that he has any ties to Russia. The informal governance component of the resolution is a total fabrication, according to the Georgian prime minister. Garibashvili repeated a recent point of the ruling party's narrative: that the idea that Ivanishvili still runs the government is an insult to both him and the country.

According to Prime Minister Garibashvili, this is a crucial prerequisite for avoiding a deepening of the Georgian people's perception of European institutions as unfair and for preventing the radical wing of the opposition from escalating polarisation based on the resolution passed by the European Parliament.