Kobakhidze says the ruling party is ready to pass 'Ukrainian law' if opposition accepts
By Liza Mchedlidze
Wednesday, October 5, 2022
Chairman of Georgian Dream Irakli Kobakhidze stated that if there is a consensus reached around the de-oligarchization bill, it will be made into a law.
"We adopted the Ukrainian law, which was approved by everyone, and we are proposing it to the opposition. If they want to participate in this, we are ready to pass the law, if not, then we will not pass it," said Kobakhidze.
"The Ukrainian law, which was not adapted to anyone, was not adapted to any Georgian politician, was sent to the Venice Commission. He also approved it and we offered it to the opposition as a basic version. There was an immediate objection for one simple reason. They saw that this law cannot affect Bidzina Ivanishvili, but it will affect many of their representatives, many of their leaders, including, first of all, Kezerashvili... They do not agree to pass this law. Yesterday they were talking about developing a law that would be tailored to Ivanishvili. They said this openly and publicly. Basically, they do not understand the essence of the principle of the legal state. One of the main principles during the adoption of the law is that it cannot be tailored to any individual," Kobakhidze said.
On October 3, the chairman of the "United National Movement" faction, Khatia Dekanoidze, told the media that the faction is working on a legislative initiative related to de-oligarchization, which will affect Bidzina Ivanishvili. According to her, the demand of the opposition was never to translate the Ukrainian model, the main thing for them is to ban the influence of Bidzina Ivanishvili as an oligarch in political, social or public life of Georgia.
Another member of the "United National Movement", Levan Bezhashvili, called on the majority to work together on this bill.
"If the majority presents the bill, we will also present our version to the parliament and I hope that these two versions will be reconciled," he said.
The main part of the parliamentary opposition believes that if Georgia adopts a law that does not affect Bidzina Ivanishvili, the recommendation of the European Commission will not be considered fulfilled.
According to their position, without the reform of the court and prosecutor's office, the law of de-oligarchization will not be effective and will only prevent the financing of a few parties and the media.
The legal committee supported the initiation of the de-oligarchization bill on October 3. The document will be sent to the Venice Commission for evaluation.
