No PACE meetings in Georgia for two years

The Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe decided that the Assembly and its commitees should not hold any meetings in Georgia for a period of two years.

The decision was taken after the Bureau of the Assembly took note of the opinion of the Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs on "The case of Vassiliy Likhachev (Russian Federation, UEL), prevented from participating in the pre-electoral mission for the observation of the presidential election in Georgia". The meeting of the Bureau of Assembly was held in Vienna on November 21.

According to the PACE webpage, this measure may be lifted earlier by the Bureau if the Georgian authorities guarantee freedom of movement of Assembly members in Georgia when on Assembly business.

The decision was already commented on by the Georgian authorities. Head of the Temporary Parliamentary Commission on Territorial Integrity, Gia Volsky said they started negotiations on the issue.  

"Tedo Japaridze [Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Relations] is there and started negotiations on these issues. Yes, sanctions could be imposed. There are not planned any large scale events during two years, indeed, he said.

Former ambassador of Georgia to France, Mamuka Kudava, however, argues that the decision is not a tragedy.

"This is the price we have to pay for the Law on Occupation which we have adopted and which is necessary for our statehood. Most importantly, there are not included the visits of the monitoring missions to Georgia among those possibly planned events, Kudava said.

PACE observers from Russia, Vasily Likhachev and Sergei Kalashnikov refused to come to Georgia to participate in the presidential election monitoring this year. Likhachev explained his refusal by the presence of Georgian law on the occupied territories which only allows entry into Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia by special permission while he previously had already visited the breakaway regions of Georgia. In turn, Kalashnikov said that he was informed about the unwillingness of the Georgian authorities to receive him in the country. Accordingly, Council of Europe observation mission arrived in the country without the deputies from Russian State Duma. The Georgian Interior Ministry did not confirm information on denial of entry for the Russian MP and member of PACE delegation.