PM is against merger of President and Prime Minister’s security bodies
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday, February 8
Georgia’s Prime Minister, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, is against the merger of the State Security and Crisis Management Council (under the Prime Minister) with the National Security Council (under the President).
The initiative was put forward by the Free Democrats opposition party, who stressed that based on Georgian security interests, the bodies should be combined and chaired by the President.
The PM stated that based on the current Georgian Constitution – in which the Prime Minister and not the President is the senior official of the country - such a combination “was not adequate.”
“Currently, the Government is responsible for any crisis in Georgia, and emergency situations should be managed by the executive government and its head.
“To effectively manage crisis situations, the Government requires an appropriate body. In this case, this body is the State Security and Crisis Management Council,” the PM said.
The PM stressed that through raising such issues certain forces have tried to use “the constructive steps taken by the Government and his side to support political stability in the country for political aims.”
The PM defined that the State Security and Crisis Management Council and the State Security Council had “absolutely different” tasks and only when crisis moved to emergency condition it could be discussed at the President’s Security Council.
The President also commented the issue, and conceded that State Security and Crisis Management Council belongs in the hands of the Prime Minister.
The State Security and Crisis Management Council was established in November 2013.
The council is composed of the following members: the Secretary of the Council; the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia; the Minister of Defense of Georgia; the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia; and the Minister of Finance of Georgia.
The Council is tasked to work on issues of domestic and foreign state security policy and strategic issues of ensuring stability and the rule of law. Making political decisions to manage all types of crisis situations containing a high risk of the danger to the state interests is within the Council’s jurisdiction.
The National Security Council is tasked to discuss the issues such as the national military strategy of Georgia; issues directly related to the military development and organization of defence of the country; situations related to the cases of armed attack against Georgia, the declaration of a State of War and, provided that there are acceptable terms, signing of an agreement of truce.
The statutory Members of the National Security Council meetings are: the Prime Minister; the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia; the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia; the Minister of Defence of Georgia; the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia; and the Chairman of the Defence and Security Committee of the Parliament.
