Parliament Committee Chair highlights “direct involvement” of PM candidate in implementing EU priorities

Maka Botchorishvili, the Chair of the European Integration Committee of the Georgian Parliament, on Thursday highlighted the “direct involvement” of Irakli Kobakhidze, the candidate for the position of the Prime Minister of Georgia, in the implementation process of the 12 recommendations, outlined by the European Union for Georgia before granting the country the membership candidate status.

In an interview with the Imedi TV channel, Botchorishvili said Kobakhidze would now work from the country’s executive branch on the latest nine priorities, set out by the European Commission after granting the candidate status to Georgia, to open the EU accession talks.

This [fulfilling EU priorities] will be an active priority for him”, the Committee Chair stressed, adding both the Parliament and the Government’s goal was to “move forward” on the EU integration path.

She called the “renewal” process in the Government an “absolutely healthy” one, following the session of the Congress of the ruling Georgian Dream party earlier today, which saw the country’s outgoing PM Irakli Garibashvili, who had announced his resignation on Monday, being elected as the party’s new Chair, while incumbent GD Chair Kobakhidze being nominated as his replacement.

• Ruling party congress elects outgoing PM as new Chair, nominates replacement

Botchorishvili noted the changes were related to the implementation of the GD team’s goals and stressed that “there are some good leaders in the [ruling] team who can continue working with new energy and strength to attain the country’s targets set”.