Opposition MP says special Parliament session requires “more work and coordination” on agenda

Citizens opposition party MP Aleko Elisashvili on Monday said his party had not joined the request for holding a special Parliament session on Monday as the issues raised by the domestic opposition had “not been prepared”, and pointed out the session required “more work and coordination” from the Parliamentary majority and the opposition.

[I]f you convene a [special] session, that session should have content. In general, this all turned into a traditional fight and confrontation [in practice]. [...] It would be better if we took this issue more seriously and responsibly, if we worked more on the agenda [of a special session] and then, of course, we would also join this request”, Elisashvili said.

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.

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.