The Georgian Parliament will reopen the debate over Georgia?s membership in the Commonwealth of Independent States at a session on December 8 ? a month after a similar discussion in the legislative body ended with an agreement between the opposition and the ruling majority to postpone the issue.
In both cases the issue has been pushed for by the opposition Democratic Front parliamentary factions, which unites lawmakers from the Republican and Conservative parties.
MPs from the ruling National Movement party have already made it clear that they will not support the Democratic Front-proposed resolution calling for withdrawal from the CIS.
?Our political team?s strategic decision is clear: we should quit [the CIS]; but when to do this is a tactical issue. We should choose the best timing for this decision,? MP Rati Samkurashvili, the MP from the ruling party, said on December 8.
?Immediate withdrawal will deprive Georgia of those favorable bilateral trade conditions which Georgia currently has with CIS-member states, so at first we need relevant bilateral agreements with each of the CIS-member state,? MP Nika Rurua, deputy chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Defense and Security, said.
Debates on this issue also took place on November 10, but at that time opposition lawmakers compromised by not demanding a vote on the draft resolution, claiming that they did not want to provoke any disagreements within the Georgian Parliament against the background of tensions with Russia. But the opposition also vowed that they would pushed the issue again in December and call for a vote on the draft resolution.
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