EU Delegation calls on all elected MPs join the EU-mediated agreement
Opposition MPs who have signed the EU-mediated agreement with the ruling Georgian Dream party earlier this month have entered parliament. Photo: Parliament's press office
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The European Union Delegation to Georgia ‘warmly welcomes’ the decisions taken by Georgia’s political leaders in line with the European Council President Charles Michel's proposal aimed to solve the political tension in Georgia.
Today, signatories from opposition parties entered parliament to participate in parliamentary business, in the name of Georgia’s citizens”, the EU Delegation said.
Together, the ruling and opposition parties elected a new Speaker and are drawing up draft legislation to address perceptions of politicized justice", it added.
The EU Delegation stated as well that Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has also 'used her constitutional powers to support the implementation of this commitment'.
Noting that ‘difficult decisions’ required ‘considerable political courage’, the EU Delegation looks forward to ‘the next steps to further implement the agreement, in line with agreed timelines, to advance Georgia’s democratic and rule of law agenda’.
Statement by the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia on the implementation of the EU-mediated agreement of 19 April
— EU Delegation Georgia ???????? (@EUinGeorgia) April 27, 2021
➡️https://t.co/L3Xb2xAEtl pic.twitter.com/AiHkOXa1Oo
It therefore calls on all other elected members of parliament ‘to join the agreement and contribute to its implementation, in the interest of Georgia, its citizens, EU-Georgia relations and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic future’.
Opposition MPs from Lelo, Strategy Agmashenebeli, Republican Party, Girchi-More Freedom, as well as individual MPs from the United National Movement, who have signed the EU-mediated proposal, attended the parliamentary session on April 27.
Photo: Parliament's press office
However, the United National Movement opposition party which took a majority (34 of 60) opposition seats in the 150-member parliament in the 2020 elections, as well as European Georgia and Labour Party have not signed the agreement so far and were absent at the session.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has pardoned the co-founder of the opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi TV channel Giorgi Rurua shortly after opposition MPs took up their mandates earlier today, in line with the EU-mediated agreement.
Opposition MPs who have signed the EU-mediated agreement with the ruling Georgian Dream party earlier this month have entered parliament earlier today.
Currently imprisoned head of the United National Movement opposition party Nika Melia is ready to post bail and leave prison if parliament will not register the amnesty bill for convictions stemming from the June 2019 protests in Tbilisi, according to the recent EU-mediated agreement between the ruling Georgian Dream party and the opposition.
United States Senators Jim Risch, Ron Johnson and Jeanne Shaheen have introduced a bipartisan resolution in support of the full implementation of Georgia’s April 19 agreement to end the political impasse in the country.
Opposition politicians who signed the EU-mediated agreement on April 19 have called on others to consolidate their efforts and make the ruling party fulfil its obligations. They also call on the opposition politicians who refuse to sign the document to take more responsibility on the current political processes.
The United States Embassy to Georgia is ‘deeply disappointed’ by the ruling Georgian Dream party’s ‘rushed passage’ of amendments to Georgia’s Administrative Code.
Salome Samadashvili from the United National Movement opposition party, Armaz Akhvlediani and Shavla Shavgulidze who appeared in the 10th convocation of the state legislature through the European Georgia opposition party list, have joined the Lelo opposition party faction in parliament.