Georgian Government Sues President Regarding Ambassadorial Appointments

By Khatia Bzhalava

Tuesday, June 7, 2022

According to the government of Georgia, it is the prerogative of only the executive authority to engage in the domestic and foreign policies.

Salome Zourabishvili has denied rejecting the nominations, saying that all diplomatic candidates proposed by the Government had been approved by Presidential decrees.

The Government of Georgia announced yesterday that it had filed a lawsuit in the Constitutional Court regarding the separation of powers with President Salome Zourabichvili over the ambassadorial appointments. According to the Government, the Government of Georgia is the only supreme body of the executive authority, which “carries out domestic and foreign policies of the country.”

According to a statement published by the Government of Georgia, the Constitution does not grant the President any authority to engage in domestic and foreign policies, as it is the prerogative of the executive authority. The Government notes that according to the Constitution of Georgia, it is the exclusive competence of the Government of Georgia to judge whether the performance of any ambassador or diplomatic mission chief in any given circumstance is the most justified in any given state or institution for pursuing the effective foreign policy.

“The Government of Georgia believes that appointment of ambassadors or rejection of a proposal for their dismissal is not a constitutional authority of the President of Georgia,” the statement reads.

The statement notes that considering the above-mentioned, the Government of Georgia seeks clarification on the delineation of authority between the President and Government of Georgia with a constitutional case of litigation in relation to the appointment and dismissal of ambassadors and diplomatic mission chiefs.

The GD Government noted in mid-March that it was going to file the lawsuit, claiming the President pursued foreign policy by side-stepping the executive branch. The governing party claimed the President had violated the Constitution on several occasions, including by unauthorized visits to Paris and Brussels, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They also noted that the President “repeatedly rejected” the appointment of Government-nominated ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions over the past year.

Zourabichvili has denied rejecting the nominations, saying that every appointment request had been satisfied by Presidential decrees. However, she added that “it would be very good” if the Constitutional Court separated some competencies of the President and the Government and made clarifications.