Parliament is to declare trust to new Cabinet of Ministers
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, April 30
The Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Levan Kipiani has quit his post. He is the seventh minister who took this step since the new government took office. Based on the Georgian constitution, if 1/3 of the Cabinet is changed, Parliament should re-declare trust to the renewed Cabinet.
Kipiani claims that the reason of his resignation was his complicated attitude with the Parliament’s Sport Committee, which had accused Kipiani of undertaking wrong policies, poor staff policies and promoting unreasonable spending of the budget’s money.
Kipiani claims he did not wish to see more troubles among the ministry and parliament and left his position, noting that he would continue his work within sport.
Reacting to the development, Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili held a special briefing, where he stressed that only those ministers’ replacements would be named who had just resigned, meaning the Ministers of Environment Protection and Infrastructure.
Gharibashvili excluded any new faces but the two individuals in the renewed Cabinet.
The PM emphasized that the ongoing situation is quite normal for any democratic state and there is nothing alarming in the parliament’s procedures in connection with the new Cabinet of Ministers.
The PM underscored that much has been done by the current Georgian government for Georgia’s political and economic advancement and appealed to the legislative body to launch and finalize its procedures in a timely manner.
“The EU Riga summit is coming in May. A very large scaled IBRD event will be held on May 12-14. We should not lose time,” the PM said, noting that the visit of the German Chancellor is also being planned.
The opposition United National Movement members claim that the “real ruler of the country, former PM Bidzina Ivanishvili gets rid of Gharibashvili’s staff.”
They appeal to Parliament not to confirm the new Cabinet of Ministers. According to them the whole government should be changed.
Members of the opposition party, Free Democrats, say that the best outcome from the situation would be the return of Ivanishvili.
“He should re-take office till the next parliamentary elections in 2016. Then people will make their choice. He has given promises to people and he should keep his word,” leader of the Free Democrats Irakli Alasania said.
The Georgian Dream ruling coalition, which has the largest group in parliament, will have to nominate a prime ministerial candidate. It is not yet clear whether it will be an incumbent PM Irakli Garibashvili or a new one.
Formally, according to the constitution, a candidate named by the GD parliamentary majority has to be nominated by President Giorgi Margvelashvili within seven days.
The PM-designate will have to name cabinet members and submit them to the legislative body within next seven days.
The Parliament will have seven days to vote; the cabinet will be confirmed if it receives support of at least 75 MPs out of 150 –seat parliament.
