Ruling party head hails “friendly” meeting with PACE Co-Rapporteurs, reviewing Georgia’s EU integration progress

Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday hailed the “friendly” meeting with the Co-Rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where the Georgian side had briefed the speakers on the progress achieved by the country in fulfilling the 12 conditions set for granting the country the EU membership candidate status.

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In his comments to the media, Kobakhidze noted the deoligarchisation bill had been discussed at the meeting, adding they had informed the Co-Rapporteurs that Georgia would continue the systemic reforms and would adopt the domestic bill on deoligarchisation, after receiving the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe’s opinion on the draft law.

They [the PACE Co-Rapporteurs] praised the fact of sending [by the Georgian Parliament] the deoligarchisation bill to the Venice Commission [for its opinion on the bill] and [...] said they would wait for the Commission’s next report, after which there would be an opportunity for its discussion [on the bill]”, Kobakhidze emphasised, noting the judicial reform had been also discussed at the meeting.

The ruling party head stressed the Georgian side had “some critical remarks” over the recent report, issued by the members of the Monitoring Committee of the CoE responsible for preparing reports on the country.