Opposition MPs condemn colleagues’ move to boycott ruling party-proposed working group for EU candidacy
Opposition MPs Vakhtang Megrelishvili and Levan Ioseliani on Tuesday urged other opposition lawmakers to work for Georgia’s EU candidacy with the ruling party.
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Two opposition MPs in the Georgian Parliament, Vakhtang Megrelishvili and Levan Ioseliani, on Tuesday condemned the move by three opposition parties and several MPs to boycott a working group recently proposed by the ruling Georgian Dream party and instead create a parallel format last week to work on Georgia’s European Union membership candidate status.
Megrelishvili, representing the Girchi party in the state legislature, suggested that the decision of the United National Movement , Lelo for Georgia, Strategy Agmashenebeli, as well as the independent MPs Tamar Charkviani, Tamar Kordzaia, Shalva Shavgulidze, and Armaz Akhvlediani, was “absurd”, harming Georgia’s EU integration prospecs.
A major demand of the MEPs towards the opposition is not to allow the authorities to hamper the county’s European integration process and give them [the government] a reason to shift blame onto others,” Megrelishvili said.
In his remarks over the fulfilment of 12 conditions for the European Union membership candidate status, the Citizens MP Levan Ioseliani said that “parallel groups only harms the country’s EU integration.”
Speaking about the results within the ruling party-proposed working group, which was launched three weeks ago, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said Tuesday that the portion of the EU recommendations related to the Parliament's supervisory functions, judiciary reforms, justice issues and others have been addressed with the involvement of four parliamentary opposition groups and the civic sector, noting that 17 meetings of committees and working groups have already been held to address the conditions.
Georgia obtained EU perspective in June of this year and has several months to address several issues to receive the membership candidate status, reportedly next year.
Plans of the “radical opposition” to form a technocratic Government in Georgia have failed, with the group now trying to “discredit” the state legislature through the formation of a parallel working format for work on Georgia’s EU candidacy, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuahsvili said at a briefing on Tuesday.
Levan Ioseliani, a member of the Citizens opposition party and the Vice Speaker of the Parliament, on Monday said alternative working formats proposed by three Parliamentary opposition parties for work on Georgia’s European Union membership candidate status contradicted a “direct request” of the European partners that domestic stakeholders should be involved together in the working process over the matter.
An alternative working format proposed by three Parliamentary opposition parties for work on Georgia’s European Union membership candidate status “will not benefit” the country’s European prospects, and the opposition should work together with the ruling party for the objective, Nika Simonishvili, the head of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association non-governmental organisation, said on Monday.
MEP Viola von Cramon on Friday said she disapproved of the plans of a part of the Georgian opposition to create parallel groups and boycott a working format proposed by the ruling Georgian Dream party for the country to fulfil the European Union's 12-point conditions and obtain the membership candidate status in December.
The ruling Georgian Dream and four parliamentary opposition groups involved in the GD-proposed working format for gaining the European Union membership candidate status for the country held a meeting on Wednesday to discuss issues of the judiciary system in the country.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said the domestic opposition was “doing everything” to prevent the country from receiving the European Union membership candidate status as it believed the outcome would boost the Government’s position.
The United National Movement opposition party is a paralysed political structure but may have chances to recover if its founder, the imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili, quits politics, Girchi opposition party MP Iago Khvichia said on Wednesday in comments on reports of Saakashvili planning to retire from political life.
Levan Ioseliani, a member of the Citizens opposition party and the vice speaker of the Georgian parliament, on Monday said the opposition United National Movement party was “collapsing” and finding it “difficult to make decisions” without the imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili.
Levan Ioseliani, a member of the Citizens opposition party and the vice speaker of the Georgian parliament, will attend the United States midterm elections as an observer next week.