Georgian Speaker Says ‘Incident’ with CoE Over
Speaking from Strasbourg, in a live broadcast of the Tbilisi-based Mze television, Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze said that “incident” with Secretary General of Council of Europe (CoE) Walter Schwimmer “is over.”
“As you know the Georgian Foreign Minister [Salome Zurabishvili] met Mr. Schwimmer, I’ve held phone talks with him, as well as met him today [on May 17] and after these contacts I do think it will be right to discuss the issue once again,” Nino Burjanadze said on May 17.
“The incident with Mr. Schwimmer is over,” she added.
Nino Burjanadze visits Strasbourg to participate in the European Conference of Presidents of Parliament held on May 17-19.
President Mikheil Saakashvili has slammed the CoE Secretary General for its May 2 statement which put a blame for escalation in Adjara both on Tbilisi and Batumi.
As Aslan Abashidze, ex-leader of Adjara, fled Georgia, official Tbilisi indicated that it wants Plamen Nikolov, special representative of the CoE Secretary General Walter Schwimmer, out of Georgia.
However, after the talks between Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili and CoE Secretary General Walter Schwimmer in Strasbourg on May 12, the issue of expulsion of Plamen Nikolov was not put on the agenda by Georgia any more.
But Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili hinted on May 15, while visiting Romania that Georgia is not going to vote for Walter Schwimmer in forthcoming elections of the CoE’s new Secretary General.
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