Georgia to Ratify European Charter of Local Self-Government Partially

The Georgian Parliament discussed on October 15 those 23 provisions of European Charter of Local Self-Government, which the Georgian parliamentarians intend to ratify in the near future. Hence, Georgia will meet one of its commitments undertaken when joining the Council of Europe (CoE) in 1999.    
 
The Georgian authorities signed the mentioned Charter in May 2002, as a result of which the lawmakers were entrusted to choose not less than 20 provisions of the Charter and ratify them.
 
Georgia rejects to ratify article 5 of the Charter, which concerns the administrative-territorial boundaries. ?Changes in local authority boundaries shall not be made without prior consultation of the local communities concerned, possibly by means of a referendum where this is permitted by statute,? the 5th article of the Charter reads.
 
?These 23 provisions, which the Parliament intends to ratify, are in full harmonization with the Georgian legislation,? Georgian State Minister for Self-governance Issues Zurab Melikishvili said on October 15.