President of Georgia meets Parliament Speaker
By Tea Mariamidze
Wednesday, October 28
The President of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili met with the Parliament Speaker Davit Usupashvili at the Presidential Palace on October 26.
According to the statement released by the President’s administration, Margvelashvili and Usupashvili “discussed the current situation in the country and spoke about the importance of dialogue”.
On October 23, the President called on the Prime Minister and the Parliament Speaker to meet him in a format favourable for them in order to discuss important issues, such as the Rustavi 2 case and the statement of the Internal Ministry regarding the launch of an investigation into an alleged coup against the government.
Usupashvili told reporters that his meeting with the President was an ordinary one, as he usually holds such meetings with his colleagues.
The Speaker said he cannot see the necessity of imposing any emergency situation in Georgia.
"I cannot see any threats to the constitutional order. I see some specific problems and it is necessary to deal with them in order to prevent theoretical dangers in the future. To this end, we must all do our job carefully and exchange our views with each other,” he said.
Usupashvili also noted that he would like all political parties, all civil servants and everyone who is in communication with the public through the media, to calm down and not to escalate the situation.
“Our task is to care about reconciliation, agreement and solution of problems. And even if we do not agree with each other, we should argue this and not let things devolve into any personal feuds. This is our common goal and I discussed this with the President,” stated Usupashvili.
It should be noted that before meeting with the speaker, President Margvelashvili held meetings with political parties, civil society, media representatives and foreign diplomats.
His steps followed the statements of Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, who earlier commented on the ownership dispute over the Rustavi 2 TV channel and said that the opposition United National Movement should “give up plans for any kind of provocation”, warning that the opposition party “will get what it deserves”, calling them a “criminal organization.”
The President assessed the comments of PM as having “escalated the political climate and created the prerequisites for civil confrontation and a violation of constitutional order.”
