PACE Monitors Regret Hasty Adoption of Bill on Constitutional Court Without Venice Commission Review

The monitoring co-rapporteurs for Georgia from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) expressed “regret at the hasty adoption in final reading” of a bill on Constitutional Court by the Georgian Parliament without sending it for review to the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s advisory body for legal affairs.

Controversial bill increasing the quorum required for the Constitutional Court to decide cases was rushed through the Parliament by the GDDG ruling party adopting it with its third and final reading on May 14.

Although chairperson of the human rights committee and co-sponsor of the bill, MP Eka Beselia, apparently told co-rapporteurs when they visited Tbilisi earlier this month that the bill would have been sent to the Venice Commission before its adoption, the ruling GDDG party went ahead and passed the bill.

“We wish to reiterate that a Venice Commission opinion on these amendments, and the prompt implementation of their recommendations, could help ensure the efficient functioning of the Constitutional Court and counteract any possible attempts to unduly politicise these amendments, as well as the court itself, in the run up to the forthcoming parliamentary elections,” two PACE co-rapporteurs Boriss Cilevičs and Kerstin Lundgren said in a joint statement on May 19.

“We therefore urge the authorities to request such an opinion of the Venice Commission without any further delay. If not, we will propose that the Assembly’s Monitoring Committee itself request such an opinion at its forthcoming meeting on 23 May 2016,” co-rapporteurs said.

The ruling party lawmakers said that they plan to send the bill to the Venice Commission. Meanwhile, President Giorgi Margvelashvili indicated that he has to hold consultations with all the stakeholders before deciding whether to veto the bill or not.