US Ambassador Degnan expresses hope opposition UNM will sign EU-mediated agreement

Kelly Degnan made remarks to media at the closing ceremony of USAID/Georgia’s Promoting Integration, Tolerance, and Awareness (PITA) program in Tbilisi earlier today. Photo: US Embassy/Facebook page archive

Agenda.ge, 02 Jun 2021 - 23:06, Tbilisi,Georgia

United States Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan is pleased that the opposition United National Movement party is entering the parliament. However, she is disappointed that the party has decided not to sign the EU-mediated agreement so far.

Ambassador Degnan said the UNM’s decision to enter the parliament is ‘an important sign of the parties working together’.

We hope that the leadership will decide to sign the agreement and be part of ensuring that the provisions of the agreement are reflected in legislation and are then implemented and carried out”, Kelly Degnan has told journalists.

Stressing that ‘all of that is very important’, she said it is not just an agreement signed on April 19th, but it needs the legislation and implementation ‘to make sure that real change happens in terms of better elections, and judicial systems that at all levels that the public has confidence in’. 

So, we sincerely hope that UNM will decide to sign the agreement and will enter the parliament and work constructively with the ruling party and the other opposition parties”, Ambassador Degnan concluded.

She made remarks to media at the closing ceremony of USAID/Georgia’s Promoting Integration, Tolerance, and Awareness (PITA) program in Tbilisi earlier today. 

UNM announced its decision to take up their parliamentary mandates after almost a six-month boycott on May 30. However, its chair Nika Melia said they will not sign the EU-mediated document which among other issues considers the adoption of the amnesty bill for convictions stemming from the June 2019 protests in Tbilisi.