President’s 2022 appearance in Parliament with Ukrainian charge d'affaires marked “difference in position” - ruling party head

Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said President Salome Zourabichvili’s appearance at the Parliament with Andriy Kasyanov, the former charge d'affaires of Ukraine to Georgia, in March 2022 for her annual report, without notifying the body’s Speaker, had marked a “serious difference” between the positions of the Government and the President and was “disrespectful” to the country’s Constitution. 

In his comments over the ongoing impeachment procedures against Zourabichvili, initiated by the GD last month for her foreign trips without the Government's consent, Kobakhidze said the President had arrived at the Parliament for her speech with the Ukrainian diplomat shortly after Kyiv recalled its Ambassador from Georgia for not gaining imposition of sanctions on Russia from the Georgian Government for the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine and Tbilisi’s refusal of allowing volunteers to leave for Ukraine from Tbilisi to join the fight against Russia. 

Reaffirming the Government's stance that the recall of the Ambassador by Kyiv was “unacceptable”, and sending of volunteers and imposition of sanctions on Moscow could have caused “very grave consequences” for Georgia, the lawmaker also stressed the Constitution authorised the Parliament Speaker to implement administrative duties and added the President had “neglected” the task by her decision to bring Kasyanov to the legislative body without approval of Speaker Shalva Papuashvili. 

He also stressed the current authorities were “doing their utmost” to meet the European Union conditions to obtain its membership candidate status later this year, while the President was raising “unfounded allegations” over “only formal fulfilment” of the priorities, a critique he claimed harmed the country’s European integration goals. 

The Constitutional Court has one month to reveal its conclusion on whether the President violated the country’s main law through her foreign visits last month. 

If the court approves the violation, then the issue will be put to the vote in the Parliament. The dismissal of the President would require at least 100 votes in the 150-member legislative body.