Parliamentary Speaker criticizes Government

The Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, David Usupashvili criticized the government and parliamentary committees because of the numerous legislative initiatives initiated at the bureau meeting.

The point is that the majority of the legislative initiations submitted to the parliamentary bureau deal with the delay of the particular laws enactment.  For instance, the bureau meeting held on the 19th of December,was submitted with the draft amendments to the Tax Code, Criminal Code, Law on the Insolvency Proceedings, Law on the Traffic Safety, Law on the State Border of Georgia, Law on the Accounting and Financial Reporting Audit, and other laws.

The draft amendments were aiming to delay the enactment of the laws from January 1st with one year and in some cases even for more time. At the same time, the initiators of those laws, which are either the government or the MPs, propose the laws to be reviewed in an expedited basis until January 1st.  

"The initiations submitted to the parliament, intending to delay the enactment term of the laws, are the indicators of many things. If we demand to delay the laws enactment dates, then what is the point of deadline reservation? We create a delusion as if we will delay enactment of some law for one year as the scheduled date is approaching and the same issue comes to the agenda again, Usupashvili said.  

Usupashvili noted that he finds it necessary to hold a special meeting with the government regarding this issue. He also expressed his concern that the parliament has waited to discuss these issues in the last week of December. "So, what happens if the parliament does not extend the enactment dates?! Usupashvili asked.  

Following Usupashvili's cirtics, the Bureau members agreed to hold the meetings with the draft laws authors and discuss the initiated issues with them.