Georgian Parliament Speaker asks Venice Commission President for “urgent opinion” on domestic deoligarchisation bill

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Friday said he had addressed Claire Bazy Malaurie, the President of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, with a request for an “urgent opinion” on the proposed domestic bill for deoligarchisation.

In his letter, Papuashvili told Malaurie the Legal Issues Committee of Georgia's legislative body had discussed the draft law - aimed to address one of the European Union’s recommendations for Georgia to receive its membership candidate status - in its second hearing while reflecting recommendations of the Commission.

“The urgency of the requested opinion relates to the necessity of the adoption of this law as an important part of the European Union’s 12 recommendations, as one of the prerequisites for granting Georgia the EU candidate country status”, Papuashvili said.

The letter to the President of the Commission also noted the tight timeline of the Georgian Parliament's spring session, which is set to close in June.

In the frames of implementing one of EU’s 12 priorities, and in coordination with the EU, I’ve requested a second urgent opinion from the @VeniceComm on revised draft law on deoligarchisation, taking its earlier recommendations into account. https://t.co/cOkMItpQwD

— Shalva Papuashvili ???????? (@shpapuashvili) April 14, 2023

The deoligarchisation bill was proposed by the ruling party in October as part of work for meeting conditions for obtaining the EU membership candidate status.

The bill establishes the definition of the concept of an oligarch, recognition of a person as an oligarch and their entry into a relevant register, exclusion of oligarchs from the register and maintenance of the said register.

It also sets out legal consequences of recognising a person as an oligarch and filling in relevant declarations by certain persons regarding their contact with an oligarch and their representative.

In recent comments on the legislative initiative, Anri Okhanashvili, the Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee in the Georgian Parliament, on Wednesday said the amended bill would offer individuals recognised as oligarchs to appeal against the status in domestic courts.

He also said the European Commission had approved a similar law in Ukraine, adding he was taking the development as an “indicator for us that if we also adopted a law based on the same principles, we should be treated similarly and the [condition for the EU status related to the bill] would be considered fulfilled”.