The Daily Beat: 21 June
At the requests of the European partners, including the President of the European Council, the ruling Georgian Dream party reconsidered the prompt adoption of the de-oligarchization law, scheduled for next week. According to the ruling party chair, Irakli Kobakhidze, the GD majority deferred further voting until December, saying it will wait for the EU position on the draft. Last week, the GD majority adopted the draft law in two readings, ignoring the Venice Commission’s opinion to shelve the draft.
According to the EC’s oral report communicated to the EU Ambassadors in Brussels, Georgia reportedly fully implemented only three out of twelve conditions. The report also suggests that Georgia partially implemented seven conditions related to political depolarization, judicial reform, institutional independence, oversight, and the fight against corruption and organized crime, while having limited progress on de-oligarchization and no progress on media pluralism. The EC’s interim oral report is the first indicator of areas where the country must progress before its expansion is considered in October.
The Speaker of the Irish Parliament, Sean O’Farrell, is visiting Georgia, where he met with Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, President Salome Zurabishvili, and Foreign Affairs Minister Ilia Darchiashvili. According to the official press releases, the meetings with the Irish guest focused on enhancing bilateral partnership, including parliamentary cooperation, the country’s European integration, the reform progress, and regional security challenges given Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine. The Georgian officials briefed Sean O’Farrell on local developments and the country’s EU expectations later this year, requesting to support the candidacy status. Irish Speaker pledged to support Georgia’s further EU integration and do his utmost to bolster bilateral ties.
According to the latest Edison Research poll commissioned by Formula TV, European and Euro-Atlantic integration enjoys all-time high public support. Edison Research polls suggest that 90% of the population supports the country’s EU integration, while 10% are against it. As for North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 85% of the population backs the country’s NATO membership, with 15% opposing joining the western military alliance.
According to the Central Bank’s announcement, the key refinancing rate will remain at 10.5%. In its announcement, the bank reported that in May, annual headline inflation decreased to 1.5 % (April-2.7), while the core inflation rate retreated to 3.9 percent (April 4.7). At the same time, the central bank’s data suggest that domestic inflation remained high at 9.1 % in May.
