Parliament committee chair: parliamentary group to present bill on deoligarchisation

Anri Okhanashvili, the chair of the Georgian parliament's legal affairs committee from the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said the working group engaged in implementing European Union conditions for granting the country the membership candidate status was preparing to present its bill on deoligarchisation.

In his remarks over the matter, Okhanashvili noted discussions on the bill would begin after the Council of Europe's Venice Commission submitted its report on the Ukrainian version of a similar initiative.

It [the bill] repeats the Ukrainian model of deoligarchisation. We will hear views on this bill, to see if there are proposals from the members of the working group. [...] As for the discussions, they will start after we have the report of the Venice Commission regarding the Ukrainian model”, the parliament official said.

Okhanashvili stressed the goal was to achieve the amendments through a “broad consensus”, and added views of “all political groups and international partners” on the issue would be “interesting”.

We have taken as an objective measure the approach of the European structures, which practically approved the Ukrainian model [on the deoligarchisation]. Ukraine is the only country where this law is applied. European structures expressed their interest in this law and stated it was necessary for Ukraine to implement it”, Okhanashvili noted.