Ruling party: conditions of EU-mediated agreement fulfilled, including calls for judicial reforms
The ruling party stated that they are ready to discuss in detail the content of the political agreement and the state of its execution with strategic partners. Photo: Georgian Dream press office.
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The ruling Georgian Dream party says all conditions of the EU-mediated agreement ending months of political standoff in April 2021 have been fulfilled amid the US State Department’s criticism over the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court.
The agreement had called for a moratorium on the appointment of judges before the implementation of wide-scale judicial reforms.
The parliament of Georgia appointed six judges out of nine candidates to the country’s Supreme Court on July 12, with the minimal involvement of opposition parties in the voting process and despite calls for a moratorium from NGOs, the international community and the opposition.
Head of the ruling party Irakli Kobakhidze, vice-speaker of Parliament Archil Talakvadze and Ruling party MP Shalva Papuashvili stated that ‘due to the unscrupulous actions of individual officials’ the main strategic partner country is provided with distorted information on the implementation of the EU-mediated agreement.
Such actions threaten any dialogue that may take place in the future around various domestic issues,” the statement reads.
The authors of the announcement said that the law passed by parlimanet thoroughly reflects all the key recommendations of the Venice Commission.
All the conditions of the political agreement were strictly fulfilled: the government refrained from appointing judges of the Supreme Court in accordance with the old rules, High Council of Justice paused interview process in line with recommendation agreed with international partners, parliament passed a law outlining all three key recommendations of the Venice Commission, the new law also allowed additional candidates to participate in the application and selection process,” said the announcement.
The statement also underlines that the parliamentary majority has completed the process and adopted amendments to the Organic Law on Common Courts in three readings, which was proceeded in accordance with the EU-mediated agreement.
The Georgian Dream has carefully taken into account the Venice Commission's 2019 recommendation, based on to which one-half of the judges of the Supreme Court had to be elected by the ninth and the other half by the tenth convocation parliament. Prior to that, the so-called first, second, third and fourth wave of reforms were implemented, which have received positive reviews from international partners,” stated in the announcement.
The ruling party stated that they are ready to discuss in detail the content of the political agreement and the state of its execution with strategic partners.
The US State Department has expressed its concerns over the appointment of judges earlier today and called on the Georgian government to suspend the process until the implementation of ‘comprehensive, transparent, and inclusive judicial reform.’
US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan also underlined the importance of the State Department’s message and once again called for the suspension of the process.
The US State Department has called on the Georgian government to suspend the process of the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court, urging the authorities to implement the April 19 EU-mediated agreement which ended months of a political standoff caused by the parliamentary elections of 2020. The US State Department says that ‘comprehensive, transparent, and inclusive judicial reform’ must be carried out before the process can continue.
The US Embassy to Georgia has stated that the appointment of judges to the country’s Supreme Court is ‘extremely disappointing,’ noting that Georgian leaders, including the ruling Georgian Dream party, failed to fulfil the obligation under the April 19 EU-mediated agreement which ended months of political standoff. The Georgian parliament appointed six judges out of nine candidates to the country’s Supreme Court on July 12, despite calls from the international community, NGOs and opposition to place a moratorium on the process.
The EU Commission has announced that failure to pause the appointment of judges to Georgia’s Supreme Court, as provided for in a recent agreement mediated by the EU between the government and the opposition in April, could negatively affect the release of the second tranche of EU financial assistance to the country. Six judges were nominated to the Supreme Court by the Georgian parliament on Monday, despite calls from the international community, NGOs and opposition for the postponement of the process.
The Georgian parliament has appointed six judges to the country’s Supreme Court, despite calls from the opposition, NGOs and the international community to suspend the process in compliance with the EU-mediated agreement which put an end to six months of political tension over the country’s October 2020 parliamentary elections. Parliament made the decision at today’s session, which was delayed after opposition activists and NGO representatives entered parliament and occupied the speaker’s seat, demanding the resignation of PM Garibashvili.
The US Embassy to Georgia has posted the highlighted text of the April 19 EU-mediated agreement between Georgian political parties to counter the position of the ruling Georgian Dream party that the parliament should continue the election of new judges in the Georgian Supreme Court.
The Georgian High Council of Justice (HCJ), an independent body which selects and appoints judges around the country, has selected nine candidates for judge in the Supreme Court despite the calls of foreign diplomats and the opposition to pause the process.
The delivery of one million doses of the Pfizer vaccines has already begun in Georgia, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has announced. He said Georgia will be receiving the vaccines gradually every weekend enabling the population to register at booking.moh.gov.ge.
“We are a sovereign and independent state. We are doing everything, and we are a distinguished star among the EU Eastern Partnership states, with our reforms, achievements”, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has told journalists today. In his comments he has assessed recent political developments in Georgia, country's EU aspirations, media freedom in Georgia, relations with US and recent appointment of Supreme Court judges.
Civil society and media organisations of Georgia have published an open letter to President of the European Council Charles Michel today in which they urge him to continue 'your close engagement with Georgia’s leadership and speak publicly against democratic setbacks, and work with Georgia’s civil society to ensure the country’s progress on the path to the Euro-Atlantic integration'.
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Jim Risch has expressed his disappointment over violent attacks on journalists at the Tbilisi Pride counter rally on July 5 and the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court ‘in contravention of the EU-mediated agreement.’ Risch spoke about the physical assault of 53 journalists by right-wing protesters of the Tbilisi Pride march counter rally in the country’s capital and the death of TV Pirveli cameraman Lekso Lashkarava.