Parliamentary majority will not participate in special Parliament session convened by President

Givi Mikanadze, an MP for the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said the Parliamentary majority would not participate in the special session of the Parliament convened by the Georgian President on Monday.

Mikanadze claimed the “aim of this process” was not to contribute to fulfilling the conditions of the European Union for granting the country the membership candidate status, but to “deepen the polarisation” of the domestic political environment, noting that the agenda of the domestic opposition did not comply with the requirements of the Parliament’s regulations.

[W]e declare once again that we are not going to participate in a parallel, made-up sabotage process planned by the radical opposition with no prospects for the outcome. None of the 81 members of our faction will participate in the special session”, Mikanadze said.

The MP noted that due to the fact that the Georgian Dream parliamentary faction would not attend the session and the quorum would not be formed, the session could not be opened.

All four issues in the agenda were not discussed at the [Parliamentary] committee hearing. According to the regulations, before the issue is discussed at the session, it must be referred to the committee and once supported, the issue is passed at the session”, he concluded in his comments.

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Friday signed a decree convening a special session of the Parliament to address the 12-point conditions outlined by the EU for granting the country the membership candidate status. Forty-six opposition MPs had earlier appealed to the President about convening the special session of the legislative body.