Ruling party: Government “forced” to ask Constitutional Court for confirmation of violation of Constitution by President

The Government of Georgia has been “forced” to ask the country’s Constitutional Court to confirm whether the President of Georgia violated the Constitution in her international visits, the Political Council of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party said on Tuesday.

The statement follows Monday’s address by President Salome Zourabichvili to the Parliament, in which she detailed her visits to a number of European states for holding meetings on the backdrop of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

The GD Political Council said the Constitution stipulated the visits could only have been made through the “consent of the Government”, while the President’s meetings had not complied with the provision “as she herself admitted at yesterday's sitting [in the legislative body]”.

“[The visits] were planned by the President without any prior consultation with the Government, and the Government was informed of the visits only after [the fact], confirming that the President had intentionally violated the Constitution,” the ruling party statement said.

In its reaction, Georgian Dream reminded the President “that the rules of the state system are not determined by the President but by the Constitution, and no one can allow the President to change the Constitution”.

The statement also includes references to “a number of cases over the past year in which the President refused to appoint an ambassador or a diplomatic representative nominated by the Government,” with the refusals referred to as being “grossly” contrary to the Constitution of Georgia.

The Political Council has also called on the President “to carefully study the Constitution of Georgia and to understand well the essence of a parliamentary republic”.

Zourabichvili addressed the Georgian Parliament on Monday with her annual report, following a series of meetings she held in Europe in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last month.

In her address to the MPs, the Georgian President welcomed the Prime Minister's statement on Georgia’s European Union membership application and the resolution on the country’s accession to the Union that is being worked on by the legislative body, while also calling on MP’s to adopt the resolution unanimously.

Zourabichvili also suggested to the political establishment these initiatives be united in a single document that would support the country’s application for membership, adding the move would be a sign of “full unity” around the issue and be sent to the EU.

Among other topics commented during the address, the President also proposed a position of the Minister of State for EU Integration and a relevant office - which could be staffed from the opposition - be created “immediately”.