Parliament Chairman Papuashvili Criticizes EU Ambassador's Call for Judicial Integrity Check in Georgia
By Liza Mchedlidze
Friday, March 29, 2024
The Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, Shalva Papuashvili, has criticized Pawel Herczynski, the European Union Ambassador to Georgia, for his recent statement regarding the necessity of checking the integrity of judges in Georgia. Herczynski emphasized that the goal is to establish a fully independent and professional judicial system in Georgia to strengthen democracy in the country.
Papuashvili noted that such statements over the past two years have led to an 'attack' against Georgian justice and specific judges.
"Yesterday, I was surprised by the statement of the acting ambassador regarding Vetting. I would have expected him to at least express his regret that the EU embassy was an instrument of a fake attack on Georgian justice. In fact, for two years, because of such statements, Georgian justice and specific judges have been the object of attack.
Yesterday, instead of hearing from the current ambassador of the European Union regret that the statement of the former ambassador at the time misled the public, was unfair to specific judges, was not based on facts, and was discrediting Georgian justice, we hear that it turns out that there is a need to check the integrity of Georgian judges. If someone's integrity is to be tested, it is our NGOs sector," said Papuashvili.
The Chairman reiterated that checking judges' integrity is unnecessary and emphasized that involving foreign citizens in vetting processes is unconstitutional and unacceptable to the Georgian people.
"During the discussion, it was revealed that there is no argument on anyone's side that there are systemic challenges requiring such a radical intervention, and therefore Vetting is not necessary.
Vetting with the participation of foreign citizens is against the constitution and categorically unacceptable for the Georgian people. No one is going to include Polish, Dutch, and Lithuanian experts here. This is unacceptable," said the Parliament Chairman.
