The News in Brief
Thursday, November 29
Philip Dimitrov – Local and Central government Should not Get into Useless and Damaging Fights
The local and central government should not get into useless and damaging fights, EU ambassador in Georgia Philip Dimitrov stated in his speech at the national congress of local self-governance of Georgia.He says Europe has always been very interested in developing democratic forms of local self-governance.
“Many European countries have passed through the experiences which now seem too converged but they were moving from super-centralization to a lot of decentralization and now we can see how these models have matched together and this is very well expressed in the way in which they diverse in their form in the new members of the EU. The issue of local government was solved in a more and more principally similar manner. Local government is something which has always been an important part of the democratic development of the countries recently. And it has always contained a lot of challenges. There are a lot of challenges because the local government has sometimes different priorities than the central government does and this is why we have always been so interested in developing strategies and having the central government and especially the regional ministries working on a comprehensive approach which can help find the ways for cooperation with the local government and I can see that in this field Georgia is going further. It is also challenging because very often the elections for local government and elections for central government or for parliaments do not coincide, which means that often there is a challenge of having representatives of different political parties in need to work together and find the ways which are the best for the people and the country,” Dimitrov said.
Dimitrov said that there is always an eagerness on the part of the central government to focus very strictly on what is going in different localities, though cohabitation is necessary.
“One of the things that are extremely important is to take into account the difference in the scope of the local and central authorities so they do not get into useless and damaging fights. It is absolutely necessary for the local authorities to understand the scope of the central government and the necessity to cooperate within the framework which it is capable to give and for the central government to understand the fact that local government has their demand, approaches, ideas and that they may be in their ways,” Dimitrov stated, adding that the capacity to achieve cooperation and work for the common goal between the central and local authorities is very important. (IPN)
Public Broadcasting to Obligated Promote NATO integration
It has become a legal obligation of the Georgian Public Broadcaster to promote NATO integration, also to provide timely and all-round awareness to the viewers about events regarding occupied territories.
The amendments are made to the law on Public Broadcasting. The author and initiator of the law is the parliamentary committee of European integration. The supervisory board, which determines program priorities of public broadcasting, will have EU and NATO integration and occupied territories-related events as priority.
Public Broadcasting will be obliged to include Georgia’s integration to NATO and EU in some social advertisements. (IPN)
Locals continue rally outside Martvili municipality
Locals and activists of the Georgian Dream Coalition continue rallying outside the municipality in the town of Martvili in the Samegrelo region in Western Georgia.
About 100 people have blocked the building and refuse to allow representatives of the self-government and the local municipality into their offices.
The rally participants urge for the resignation of Zaza Gorozia, the chairperson of the town assembly and Mamuka Danelia, the governor of Martvili municipality. They say they won`t allow the representatives of the assembly in their offices until their demands are satisfied.
Along with it, the representatives of the town assembly and the municipality sent a letter to the police urging them to provide them access to their own offices so they can resume work. There was no response from the police.
The representatives of the town assembly and the municipality also remain outside the building in the street watching the ongoing developments. (Rustavi 2)
Georgian Railways has a new chief
Konstantine Guntsadze has been appointed as the chairperson of the supervisory board of Georgian Railways today. First deputy, Oleg Bichiashvili will fulfill the duties of the director general. The corresponding decisions were taken by the Partnership Foundation. Guntsadze has already confirmed his appointment. He plans to take the new office tomorrow and only afterwards, he pledges to speak about details of the action plan. Guntsadze led the Voters` League NGO prior to the parliamentary elections. The NGO organized exit-polls for the elections. (Rustavi 2)
Newly appointed governor dismisses two deputies
The newly appointed governor of the Telavi municipality, Mr. Zurab Kurashvili, who is a member of the Georgian Dream Coalition, has dismissed two of his deputies.
The new governor has refused to comment on the staff changes.
As reported, the governor urged the deputies to write resignation letters by themselves. However, the deputies have refused to confirm the reports.
About 200 employees of the municipality have been urged to write resignation letters.
As reported, the governor has already selected new candidates for the positions of the two deputy governors, both of them being members of the Georgian Dream Coalition. (Rustavi 2)
The local and central government should not get into useless and damaging fights, EU ambassador in Georgia Philip Dimitrov stated in his speech at the national congress of local self-governance of Georgia.He says Europe has always been very interested in developing democratic forms of local self-governance.
“Many European countries have passed through the experiences which now seem too converged but they were moving from super-centralization to a lot of decentralization and now we can see how these models have matched together and this is very well expressed in the way in which they diverse in their form in the new members of the EU. The issue of local government was solved in a more and more principally similar manner. Local government is something which has always been an important part of the democratic development of the countries recently. And it has always contained a lot of challenges. There are a lot of challenges because the local government has sometimes different priorities than the central government does and this is why we have always been so interested in developing strategies and having the central government and especially the regional ministries working on a comprehensive approach which can help find the ways for cooperation with the local government and I can see that in this field Georgia is going further. It is also challenging because very often the elections for local government and elections for central government or for parliaments do not coincide, which means that often there is a challenge of having representatives of different political parties in need to work together and find the ways which are the best for the people and the country,” Dimitrov said.
Dimitrov said that there is always an eagerness on the part of the central government to focus very strictly on what is going in different localities, though cohabitation is necessary.
“One of the things that are extremely important is to take into account the difference in the scope of the local and central authorities so they do not get into useless and damaging fights. It is absolutely necessary for the local authorities to understand the scope of the central government and the necessity to cooperate within the framework which it is capable to give and for the central government to understand the fact that local government has their demand, approaches, ideas and that they may be in their ways,” Dimitrov stated, adding that the capacity to achieve cooperation and work for the common goal between the central and local authorities is very important. (IPN)
Public Broadcasting to Obligated Promote NATO integration
It has become a legal obligation of the Georgian Public Broadcaster to promote NATO integration, also to provide timely and all-round awareness to the viewers about events regarding occupied territories.
The amendments are made to the law on Public Broadcasting. The author and initiator of the law is the parliamentary committee of European integration. The supervisory board, which determines program priorities of public broadcasting, will have EU and NATO integration and occupied territories-related events as priority.
Public Broadcasting will be obliged to include Georgia’s integration to NATO and EU in some social advertisements. (IPN)
Locals continue rally outside Martvili municipality
Locals and activists of the Georgian Dream Coalition continue rallying outside the municipality in the town of Martvili in the Samegrelo region in Western Georgia.
About 100 people have blocked the building and refuse to allow representatives of the self-government and the local municipality into their offices.
The rally participants urge for the resignation of Zaza Gorozia, the chairperson of the town assembly and Mamuka Danelia, the governor of Martvili municipality. They say they won`t allow the representatives of the assembly in their offices until their demands are satisfied.
Along with it, the representatives of the town assembly and the municipality sent a letter to the police urging them to provide them access to their own offices so they can resume work. There was no response from the police.
The representatives of the town assembly and the municipality also remain outside the building in the street watching the ongoing developments. (Rustavi 2)
Georgian Railways has a new chief
Konstantine Guntsadze has been appointed as the chairperson of the supervisory board of Georgian Railways today. First deputy, Oleg Bichiashvili will fulfill the duties of the director general. The corresponding decisions were taken by the Partnership Foundation. Guntsadze has already confirmed his appointment. He plans to take the new office tomorrow and only afterwards, he pledges to speak about details of the action plan. Guntsadze led the Voters` League NGO prior to the parliamentary elections. The NGO organized exit-polls for the elections. (Rustavi 2)
Newly appointed governor dismisses two deputies
The newly appointed governor of the Telavi municipality, Mr. Zurab Kurashvili, who is a member of the Georgian Dream Coalition, has dismissed two of his deputies.
The new governor has refused to comment on the staff changes.
As reported, the governor urged the deputies to write resignation letters by themselves. However, the deputies have refused to confirm the reports.
About 200 employees of the municipality have been urged to write resignation letters.
As reported, the governor has already selected new candidates for the positions of the two deputy governors, both of them being members of the Georgian Dream Coalition. (Rustavi 2)