Kelly Degnan says tough social issues should push opposition parties to enter Parliament
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Thursday, February 4
The U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi welcomed the Georgian Parliament’s abstention from terminating the mandates of boycotting opposition MPs as ‘a positive step’. The embassy’s statement noted that maintaining opposition mandates gives both sides the opportunity to continue negotiating – stalled since early December – to find a solution.
Encouraging to put ‘the country’s best interests first,’ the U.S. Embassy urged all party leaders to consider the proposals under discussion and reach an agreement in a timely manner.
US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan believes that the results of yesterday's vote in Parliament will allow the opposition to reconsider its decision. This was stated by Kelly Degnan during her visit to the Parliament, where she attended the presentation of the annual report of the Parliament Speaker.
According to her, if the party leaders put the country’s interest first, if they listen to their voters whose main concerns are their employment, increased prices, poverty, and the general economic impact of COVID. Degnan claims the urgency of those issues will encourage the parties to reach a compromise and start working.
The ambassador announced that the vote on the 2nd of February was an opportunity that would give the parties a little bit more time to find a common ground. “I think the resolution is possible if the parties put Georgia’s interests first. The Georgian people have said in a number of polls that what they care about, what they’re worried about are their jobs, high prices, poverty. They also said, over 75% of Georgians polled in that recent NDI report, said they want members of parliament to work together, and to work together in parliament on these issues,” Dega added, expressing hope that the parties will keep that in mind as they discuss the various options for overcoming their differences.
She also confirmed the embassy's readiness to offer a neutral forum to the party leaders so that they can gather and discuss solutions. The ambassador also expressed her willingness to talk to civil society, other stakeholders, who want to resolve this situation quickly.
According to the EU Ambassador Carl Hartzell, maintaining the mandates for the opposition was the right move. As he said, yesterday's decision by Parliament is a precondition for continuing the dialogue. However, in his words, this decision re-opened the starting point to maintain the dynamics of the negotiations.
"We are still looking forward to discovering the magical space where all parties will agree. As you know, the majority of the opposition is still in strike mode after yesterday's decision.” he emphasized, adding that these negotiations are still difficult, since no concrete steps have been taken from either side. He said that the role of facilitators is also being considered, given the ongoing fruitless negotiations between the parties.
"We are involved today, but as I said, it is important that after so many weeks, when there is no progress between the parties, we also think about whether our role, the format of the dialogue will be useful in the coming days and weeks. We will think about it, and we will do it together with all parties," Hartzell said.
On February 2, the Parliament of Georgia rejected the appeal of 51 MPs elected from the opposition for early termination of their term of office. The parliamentary session was preceded by a meeting of the Georgian Dream majority, after which the leader of the majority, Irakli Kobakhidze, said that they had made a pragmatic decision based on several opinions and would refrain from terminating the powers of opposition MPs at this stage.
According to the representatives of the opposition, the Georgian Dream is trying to prolong the time as much as possible by violating the law and not to form a one-party parliament.
As of today, 3 former Alliance of Patriots members that created the new union ‘European Socialists’ and 2 MPs from Citizens are working in the parliament.
3 of the 4 MPs elected from the Girchi party have not yet applied to the parliament for termination of their powers: Iago Khvichia, Vakhtang Megrelishvili and Salome Mujiri. On February 1, the party asked the Georgian Dream not to relinquish power to its opposition colleagues.
Recall that according to the official results of the October elections, a total of 8 opposition parties and blocs won 60 out of 150 seats in the tenth convocation. They called the election rigged, refused to run for parliament, and demanded a change of the CEC chairperson, early elections under new legislation, and the release of political prisoners.
