EU says further financial aid will made conditional on Georgian judiciary reforms
The EU says that Georgia has adopted recent changes for the country’s Supreme Court ‘in a hastily manner.’ Photo: rootedinrights.org.
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The European Union says that revising the selection process of Georgian Supreme Court judges in line with CoE’s Venice Commission recommendations will be a condition for the disbursement of the second tranche of macro-financial assistance to Georgia under its current programme.
On 1 April, the Georgian parliament adopted legislative amendments reviewing the selection process of Supreme Court judges.
The European Union has repeatedly expressed concerns over the shortcomings in this selection process and the applicable rules,” said the EU’s statement released yesterday.
The EU has welcomed the initiative to amend the legal framework of the selection process of judges. However, it was ‘disappointing’ that the Georgian parliament ‘hastily designed and adopted these amendments without an inclusive consultation process.’
The European Union therefore strongly recommends Georgia to request as soon as possible a Venice Commission assessment on whether the adopted amendments comply with its previous recommendations. The new rules, once confirmed by the Venice Commission, need to apply equally to all applicants,” said the statement.
The EU says that ‘It is crucial’ that the Supreme Court, Georgia’s highest judicial instance, be composed of judges of ‘utmost professional competence and integrity’.
Turmoil around the Georgian Supreme Court judges began at the end of 2018. Photo: Georgian Supreme Court.
On April 1, the 150-member Georgian parliament approved the amendments by 86 votes.
Currently only six of 60 opposition MPs are present in parliament.
The rest, 54 opposition MPs have been demanding repeat parliamentary elections since November 2020 and they have refused to take up their mandates.
According to the recent amendments the criteria for evaluating candidates selected by the High Council of Justice for the Georgian Supreme Court are made public.
The High Council of Justice also changes the rules for compiling a list of candidates for the final stage of the selection of candidates (voting stage) and this list is compiled by the High Council of Justice not as a result of voting, but according to the scores accumulated during the evaluation of candidates' ‘competence and good faith criteria’.
The ruling Georgian Dream party says that they always consider the recommendations of Venice Commission. Photo: parliament of Georgia press office.
Only the candidates who will receive the highest scores in the assessment of competence and good faith criteria will be submitted to parliament for the final vote.
A member of the High Council of Justice will have to provide reasons for his/her decision in the vote no matter whether he/she supports the candidate or not.
The lifetime appointment procedures of Georgian Supreme Court Judges have been the reason for turmoil in the country since the end of 2018.
The Georgian civil sector, several, non-judge members of the High Council of Justice and opposition members say that the High Council of Justice, which selects and appoints judges around the country, is biased in its decisions and that it is run ‘by a clan of judges.’
Georgian Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani says that a bill drafted by Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze and six other ruling party MPs fully meets the recommendations of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe.
The Georgian parliament has approved 14 of total 19 candidates for lifelong judges of the Georgian Supreme Court amid protests of the opposition and civic groups. Prosecutor General Shalva Tadumadze, his deputy Mamuka Vasadze and Secretary of Georgia’s High Council of Justice Giorgi Mikautadze are among those approved.
A break has been announced in parliament as an unclear substance has been spilled in the session hall with a “very unpleasant smell”as MPs say, causing a delay in a major vote today on the controversial list of judges for the Georgian Supreme Court. Emergency brigades and law enforcers are present at the scene, as several of the MPs feel ill.
The High Council of Justice of Georgia, a body which is responsible for the selection and appointment of judges in the country, has presented a final, 20 person list, for judges to the Supreme Court, including Chief Prosecutor Shalva Tadumadze and his deputy Mamuka Vasadze.