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European Parliament continues evaluating Georgia

Georgian Radio Liberty reports that during their four-day visit to Georgia from April 8 - 11, Michael Aastrup Jensen (Denmark, ALDE) and Boriss Cilevics (Latvia, SOC) co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), will estimate how Georgia follows its obligations to CoEbased on the information received from the government, opposition and civil society.

The co-rapporteurs’ first met with NGOs and media organizations on Monday. Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) member Eka Popkhadze told Radio Liberty that the guests were interested in the issue of political prisoners, legislative changes concerning the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB), jury trials and the formation of the High Council of Justice.

In Tbilisi, the co-rapporteurs are due to meet the executive and judiciary officials, hold talks with the Prime Minister’s Special Representative for relations with Russia, representatives of the political factions represented in parliament, the Georgian delegation to PACE, the President of the Supreme Court, members of the international community and NGOs. In Samtskhe-Javakheti, they will meet the local authorities and minority representatives.

According to Michael Jensen Georgia is now facing an interesting stage for its democratic future and the country should continue following the path to democratic development and become more of a European democracy. For this, he said, the government and opposition should better cooperate.



Vakhtang Qolbaia becomes interim chairperson of the supreme council of Abkhazian government

MP of Supreme Council of Abkhazian republic, Vakhtang Qolbaia, was appointed as interim head of the Abkhazian government receiving the majority of votes from council members. Liberali reports that Qolbaia said it is not new for him to work in the government of Abkhazia as he is very well familiar with the problems of IDPs and will focus on dealing with these problems.

Gia Gvazava, head of Supreme Council of Abkhazia, said after the meeting that the candidate was chosen under harsh debates. He said he personally supported the candidacy of Finance Minister of Abkhazia, Tamaz Kvaratskhelia.

According to Gvazava, the final decision of who will be the chairperson of the Abkhazian government has not yet been made and the process of selecting the candidates continues. He said the decision will be achieved by the end of the month and sent to the president for signing.

Former head of Abkhazia Gia Baramia submitted his resignation on April 5th upon the own decision.