Georgia Suspends Participation in PACE

Thea Tsulukiani, the Vice Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, has announced that the Georgian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe was suspending participation in the body’s work despite the recognition of its credentials.

The decision was made over a PACE resolution that called on Georgian authorities to hold snap parliamentary elections “in the coming months”, which she called “unacceptable”, The Caspian Post reports, citing Georgian media.

“The PACE has been debating whether to confirm credentials of our delegation or not over the recent days. Many people, above all, our anti-Government opposition and some non-governmental organizations, were fighting against confirmation of the credentials of the delegation of the new Georgian Parliament”, she said.

“Their plan failed first at Committee hearings and then at a plenary session, where only 43 out of 306 assembly members voted for depriving the Georgian delegation of its credentials”, the Parliament official said.

“Therefore, the credentials of the new Georgian Parliament's delegation were put to final vote and confirmed. However, the document confirming its credentials has a number of reservations”, the lawmaker added.

“Many reservations are unacceptable to us because they are unfair and groundless. Besides, the first reservation, which concerns new elections, goes beyond the jurisdiction of the Assembly, infringes the sovereignty of our state, and ignores facts and the will of over 1,120,000 of voters, which makes it absolutely unacceptable. Accepting this reservation would betray our voters and, thereby, the overwhelming majority of our public”, she continued.

Tsulukiani further stressed that “as long as the completely unfair and unfounded blackmail of the authorities elected by the Georgian people continues, evidence and facts are disregarded, and debates are biased and insulting towards our citizens”, participation of the delegation in the Assembly’s activities would “make no sense”.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Wednesday said the country remained a member of the Council of Europe and was “ready to cooperate” with the body “on any issue”.