Ruling party vows to override President’s veto on National Bank to “prevent potential crisis”

Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday announced his party would “definitely override” President Salome Zourabichvili’s veto on amendments to laws related to the country’s National Bank to “prevent a potential institutional crisis”.

Kobakhidze said the alleged crisis could be triggered by the President by her refusal to nominate new board members in the institution, with the comment following the party’s claims last week that Zourabichvili was “deliberately hampering” the bank’s “uninterrupted operations” by not presenting candidates for two vacant positions in its board for voting in the Parliament.

The party accused Zourabichvili of “violating” a deal struck earlier this year, in which GD claimed the President had accepted to nominate Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili to the board in exchange for the party’s pledge not to override her veto on the amendments.

Zourabichvili vetoed the ruling party-proposed bill in February, claiming the amendments would “undermine the independence” of the NBG, and adding there was “no need” to add members to its board, or an interim President, if the position of the Chair became vacant. 

In his comments, Kobakhidze said passing the bill would prevent potential threats to a “proper functioning” of NBG, adding it was a “fact” that the President’s moves were “encouraging a crisis” in the institution. 

To ensure a proper functioning of the bank [by passing the bill] is our main task”, he claimed. 

Responding to the ruling party’s allegations last week, the President’s office accused GD and the Government of  “exerting pressure” on Zourabichvili to nominate Khutsishvili for the vacant post, alleging she saw the Minister as a “professional [individual], but affiliated with the Government”. 

The President’s Office claimed the Government's stance posed threats to the NBG’s independence, and added Zourabichvili’s delay to nominate candidates for the Bank’s board was “causing no interruption in its operations” due to presence of “professional managers” at the body.