Cabinet of Chairman of Georgian Parliament calls on EP to “fully disclose” communication after visit for Jean Monnet Dialogue revoked
Launching the Jean Monnet Dialogue in Georgia aims to see MEPs more actively engaged with facilitation and mediation of a dialogue and crisis management between Georgian political parties. Photo via Parliament of Georgia.
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The Cabinet of the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia has responded to a statement issued by European Parliament facilitators on their revoked visit to Georgia, which had been aimed at launching the Jean Monnet Dialogue with their Georgian counterparts.
The response comes after the EP released a statement on Friday by MEPs Viola von Cramon, Marina Kaljurand and Miriam Lexmann, the co-facilitators of the Jean Monnet Dialogue for Peace and Democracy, an instrument developed by the EP as a tool in the area of parliamentary mediation and dialogue.
A planned visit of the co-facilitators to Georgia on January 21-22 was revoked, as Chairman of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili did not find the time to engage.
In explaining the development, Papuashvili’s cabinet noted the recent election of the new Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia and a new President of the European Parliament since the launch of Georgia’s communication with the EP president on initiation of the Jean Monnet Dialogue process.
#JeanMonnetDialogue aims to promote the inter-party dialogue within the parliament. Let us prevent this tool from becoming a source of polarization itself, instead of reducing polarization. @ViolavonCramon@Europarl_EN ????????????????https://t.co/R4PK5wKxiD
— Tamar Taliashvili (@TTaliashvili) January 22, 2022
Papuashvili’s office said it was “important that a meeting is held between the newly elected chairpersons and that matters pertaining to the conduct of the dialogue are agreed upon prior to the start of the dialogue”, adding a preparatory visit of a team for the process “would be logical and appropriate precisely after this”.
The Georgian parliament chairman’s cabinet added their counterparts in the European Parliament had been informed accordingly, adding the Jean Monnet Dialogue was a “process based on cooperation, rather than a format of spontaneous and unilaterally planned activities”.
The response statement also said the January 21 statement by the three MEPs “increases the risk of polarization and does not promote the start of the dialogue process and in order to avoid further misunderstandings”, also urging the EP to “fully disclose the communication with the Cabinet of the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia”.
Friday’s statement by the EP expressed “regret that the political conditions necessary for the start of this ambitious process are not fulfilled at this stage”, citing the revocation of the co-facilitators’ visit. The release also said the group invited “the Parliament of Georgia to prepare the ground for a conducive start of the Jean Monnet Dialogue process in the near future”.
A planned activation of the Jean Monnet Dialogue aims to see MEPs more actively engaged with facilitation and mediation of a dialogue and crisis management between Georgian political parties.
The Jean Monnet Dialogue is a parliamentary format, implemented on the basis of the agreement between the President of the European Parliament and the Chairman of the Parliament of the respective country.
The European Parliament has appointed MEPs Marina Kaljurand and Miriam Lexmann to co-facilitate Georgian parliamentary mediation and dialogue with MEP Viola von Cramon, who will chair the EP’s Jean Monnet Dialogue for Peace and Democracy, the European Parliament Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group (DEG) has reported.
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