Parliament Speaker: “No change to Georgia’s Constitution if Venice Commission disapproves amendments”
Tweet 
Share
Georgia’s Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze has today announced a Constitutional Commission will be created soon and he will be chairperson of the new group.
Kobakhidze said the Commission will be composed of Parliamentary majority and minority members, experts, representatives of constitutional institutions and members of the civil sector and be responsible for developing amendments to the Constitution of Georgia.
The Commission's activities will be based on the principles of transparency and the participation of all interested parties will ensure that we achieve our goals,” Kobakhidze said.
The Parliament Speaker promised the draft amendments would be discussed with foreign experts before the proposed changes are voted by lawmakers in the legislative body.
I’m taking responsibility that none of the amendment will appear in the revised Constitution if they were negatively assessed by the Venice Commission,” Kobakhidze stated.
He said the new Commission would begin working before the end of December and it will develop a draft of amendments to the Constitution of Georgia before April 30, 2017.
Last month Georgia's Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili (R) stressed the importance of making amendments to the Constitution: "Once and for all we should have a Constitution of European, democratic Georgia.” Photo by the Prime Minister's press office.
After we present the draft, intensive discussions and hearings in the legislative body will take place where the amendments can be discussed before Parliament makes its vote,” Kobakhidze added.
Before announcing the format of the Constitutional Commission, President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili suggested this type of Commission be established and be co-chaired by him, the Prime Minister and Georgia's Parliament Speaker.
Despite his suggestion, the initiative was not accepted.
A Constitutional Commission was also established in 2013, under the Georgian Dream Government as the authorities believed certain amendments added to the Constitution during the United National Movement-led government in 2010 included drawbacks and caused a misbalance between different state institutions.
The previous Constitutional Commission was chaired by the then Parliament Speaker and included 57 members who were heads of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts of Georgia, the Public Defender, the President’s Parliamentary Representative, majority and minority members, experts, civil society representatives and more.
Meanwhile, amendments by the new Constitutional Commission must gain at least 113 votes from the 150-member Parliament to be approved and introduced as law.
Georgia’s President welcomed the Prime Minister’s initiative to establish a working group about constitutional amendments and said he was ready to create such a group.
Acting Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili and the country's President Giorgi Margvelashvili met the newly-elected Parliament Speaker of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze and congratulated him on his election to the "very important post”.
“We need constitutional majority to fulfill all election promises”
Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili says the ruling party wants the constitutional majority in Parliament to fulfill all the promises given to population in the pre-election period and that a constitutional majority is not a bad thing, as opposition parties speculate.
On this day in 1995 country officials signed the Constitution – the country’s basis of law. The occasion is being marked today with different activities that will conclude with a big celebration later this evening at the Presidential Palace.
The Venice Commission delegation, headed by its President Gianni Buquicchio, will pay a visit to Georgia on January 20.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze has been elected as a Member of the Board of the Progressive Alliance – an international alliance of social-democratic and progressive political parties and organisations, unifying up to 120 organisations worldwide.
Proposed changes to the State Constitution were among the issues President Giorgi Margvelashvili covered in his annual address to the nation today.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze is in Poland to participate in the Summit of Speakers of the Central and Eastern European Parliaments running from May 17-20.
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili had a phone conversation with the President of Venice Commission Gianni Buquicchio over the ongoing constitutional reforms in Georgia today.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili summarised the main changes to the State Constitution today. The head of the Government said that all of the changes contribute to the country’s democratic development.
Georgia’s ruling party, the Georgian Dream, is offering all the country’s opposition parties to resume discussions on planned constitutional changes this week.