MEPs from Foreign Affairs Committee Sum Up Georgia Visit

Eight-member delegation of members of the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee is briefed about the situation on the ground by observers from the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia during the visit of administrative boundary line with breakaway South Ossetia on July 25, 2015. Photo: European Parliament website

A group of European Parliament members from the Committee on Foreign Affairs, which visited Georgia on July 25, said they consider that Georgia should be granted EU visa waiver “in 2016, once the relevant criteria are fulfilled.”

The eight-member delegation, which was led by chair of the committee Elmar Brok and included representatives from most of the political groups in the European Parliament, said in a statement after the visit that they are convinced that “visa free travel is the tangible short-term example of what the EU can offer to the population.”

“The Members welcomed the progress and efforts in the reform processes and in the implementation of the Association Agreement, as well as of the Visa Liberalisation Action Plan,” MEPs said in the statement, referring to the plan, which lays out detailed requirements that have to be met by a country in order to get short-term visa free rules for its citizens in the Schengen area.

During the visit the delegation met President Giorgi Margvelashvili; PM Irakli Garibashvili; Parliament Speaker Davit Usupashvili, as well as representatives of opposition and civil society.

They also visited prison where former PM Vano Merabishvili; ex-defense minister and former prison system chief Bacho Akhalaia are serving prison terms on various criminal charges, which they deny as politically motivated. The delegation members also visited former Tbilisi mayor Gigi Ugulava in the prison, where he is in pre-trial detention facing number of criminal charges, which he also denies as politically motivated.

The delegation members said in the statement that they “reiterated their position that the justice system should be free of political motivation and welcomed the recent presidential pardon.”

Among those 98 inmates who were pardoned by President Giorgi Margvelashvili on July 23 were two former local officials from Khoni municipality, including Leven Bobokhidze, a brother of UNM lawmaker Akaki Bobokhidze, who were serving 3.5-year prison term on embezzlement charges, which they claimed were politically motivated.

President’s decision was criticized by PM Irakli Garibashvili and some other government members. “We have seen that our president is a really ‘national’ president,” PM Garibashvili said using a term in Georgian, which is usually used to refer members or supporters of the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party.

“He [President Margvelashvili] pardoned one of the inmates, Mr. Bobokhidze, who was detained by our prosecutor’s office and sentenced, and now the President pardoned him. It is very good that we have such a noble president and I hope that he will pardon [ex-President Mikheil] Saakashvili, [ex-Defense Minister] Bacho Akhalaia, [ex-Interior Minister] Vano Merabishvili and other good people too very soon,” Garibashvili said sarcastically.

MEPs said in the statement that “all prosecutions must be transparent, proportional and should adhere strictly to investigative procedures and due process and be conducted in full respect of principles of fair trial.”

They stressed importance of “carrying out a swift and thorough reform of the judiciary” and particularly “called on the authorities to follow the recommendation of the Venice Commission on the law on the Office of the Prosecutor, to ensure its full independence and de-politicisation.”

“The Members stressed the importance of improving the political climate and of respecting and strengthening of independence of the institutions. In that regard, they addressed the ongoing amendments to the legislation regarding the National Bank of Georgia and its financial supervision powers, reminding that that independence of the monetary policy from political influence should be safeguarded,” reads the statement.

The bill, that is drawing wide criticism and that would strip the Georgian National Bank of supervisory functions of financial institutions and transfer them to a separate agency, has been passed by the Parliament this month. It, however, is now likely to be vetoed by the President, but the GD ruling coalition has enough votes in the Parliament to override it.

During the visit to Georgia, MEPs also traveled to the administrative boundary line with breakaway South Ossetia, where new demarcation signposts were placed recently by the Russian troops.

The delegation members said that the process of borderisation has “dramatic impact” on the livelihoods of people.

“The members stressed the importance of fostering people to people contacts to overcome divisions. They reminded the Georgian authorities that democratic developments and strengthening of democratic institutions is the best defence,” reads the statement.

The delegation, which was led by MEP Elmar Brok from the group of European People’s Party (EPP), also included Sandra Kalniete of EPP group; Andrej Plenkovic (EPP); Gabrielius Landsbergis (EPP); Richard Howitt from the group of Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D); Andrejs Mamikins (S&D), Marek Jurek from the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, and Paavo Vayrynen from the group of Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe.

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