The Speaker of the Parliament responds to the decision to start a separate work process by the United National Movement, Strategy Aghmashenebeli and Lelo.

“The Parliament has been actively working on the 12 priorities defined by the European Council for 3 weeks now. Legal Affairs, Human Rights, Procedural and Defense and Security Committees, as well as the Gender Equality Council, have been identified as the main parliamentary committees to work on the above issues and they have already started working.

In order to ensure the inclusiveness of the process, the committees created working groups. I want to remind the public that the working group is an instrument of parliamentary activity, which is used to involve civil society and experts in the work process.

17 meetings of committees and working groups have been held. There are already preliminary results on some of the issues. So, for example:

Relating to the 2nd point of the recommendations - parliamentary oversight - the analysis of the existing oversight mechanisms has been completed, on the basis of which the working group will consider the possibilities of their improvement and will initiate amendments by September 21; Relating to the 3rd point of the recommendations - judicial reform - evaluation documents have already been presented to the working group by the parliamentary groups, which, based on the discussion with the civil sector, should become the basis for the development of the judicial reform strategy and the initiation of legislative changes; Relating to the 9th point of the recommendations - gender equality - the working group, with the participation of government agencies and the civil sector, defined issues, on which a detailed discussion will be held and the relevant draft law will be initiated by October 5. Relating to the 11th point of the recommendations - proactive use of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights in the judicial process - the initial package of laws has already been drafted, which after the final discussion in the working group, will be initiated until September 1. 5 out of 8 parliamentary groups - Georgian Dream, Girchi, European Socialists, Citizens and For Georgia - participate in the activities of committees and working groups. Three parliamentary groups - UNM, Lelo and Strategy Aghmashenebeli refuse to work in the parliamentary format.

A few days ago, a delegation from the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee visited Tbilisi, which, on the one hand, approved the work plan of the Parliament regarding 12 points, and, on the other hand, urged the UNM, Lelo and Strategy Aghmashenebeli to get involved in the these activities.

In contrast, the UNM, Lelo and Strategy Aghmashenebeli, instead of working together, created their own party format. Moreover, they are announcing political radicalization and street rallies from September.

It is clear that after the failed project of the “technical government”, the radical part of the opposition has now switched to the “technical parliament” project, which is an attempt to delegitimize the Parliament elected by the people and play a dangerous game with the constitutional system. Such a move stirs up political polarization and directly contradicts the first point of the European Council recommendations - depolarization.

I am glad to hear the assessments of several non-governmental organizations, parties and international actors regarding the destructiveness of the process initiated by this tripartite coalition.

It is important both for the civil sector and international actors to clearly assess this step towards deepening polarization and delegitimization of the Parliament. As the Speaker, I will observe the timeliness and clarity of these assessments”, - said Shalva Papuashvili.