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• Irakli Kobakhidze re-elected as the PACE Vice-President with the second term

  “I am glad that I was approved as the Vice-President of PACE with the second term”, - the Majority Leader, member of the Parliamentary delegation to PACE, Irakli Kobakhidze stated.

  His first meeting on this position was held with the PACE President, Rik Daems.

  The parties dwelt on the cooperation between the Parliament of Georgia and the PACE and touched upon the developments in Georgia and the priorities of Georgian authorities.

  “It was an important bilateral meeting with the PACE President. We discussed our cooperation prospects between our Delegation and the PACE”, - I. Kobakhidze noted.

• GD Chairman: PACE urges opposition to enter parliament

  “The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has discussed election report prepared by Tini Kox today and reiterated that the elections were competitive and free in Georgia,” Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream Party, stated on Monday.

  According to him, PACE approved the observation mission’s report, including recommendations.

  “This recommendation reflects our will. In particular, to check all violations revealed in this election. That’s why we’ve proposed the opposition to set up a parliamentary commission,” GD Chairman said.

  Irakli Kobakhidze stresses that the CoE calls on the opposition to engage in parliamentary work. “We hope the opposition will take these statements into account,” he said.

  He also echoed the decision on re-electing him as PACE Vice-President. “I am happy to be approved as PACE Vice-President for the second term in a row,” Kobakhidze added.

   

• Congress President’s official visit to Georgia

  Strasbourg, 20 February 2020 – The President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Anders Knape, will pay an official visit to Georgia from 22 to 25 February 2020, organised in the framework of the Georgian chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. Accompanied by Congress Secretary General Andreas Kiefer, the president will hold meetings with senior representatives of national and local Georgian institutions and authorities. The talks will focus, among other things, on the decentralisation strategy that the Georgian government has just adopted in response, in particular, to the recommendations made by the Congress following its monitoring visit in 2018. Other topics of discussion will be the priorities of the Georgian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, the Congress's co-operation with the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia (NALAG) and the Congress's co-operation programmes in the country. 

  In Tbilisi, Anders Knape will meet with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Lasha Darsalia and the Vice-premier and Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure, Mrs Maya Tskitishvili. He will also hold meetings with the Deputy Chairman of Parliament, Mr Kakhaber Kuchava, the Mayor of Tbilisi and the head of the Georgian Delegation to the Congress and President of NALAG, Mr Kakha Kaladze, and the Public Defender, Ms Lomjaria Nino.

  Meetings are also scheduled in Gori with the Mayor, Mr Konstantin Tavzarashvili, and the Governor of Shida Kartli region, Mr Giorgi Khojevanishvili.

  Meetings with the Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Mr Irakli Kobakhidze, and with the members of the Georgian delegation to the Congress will complete the visit.

   

  The Congress comprises two chambers: the Chamber of Local Authorities and the Chamber of Regions. It has 324 full and 324 substitute members, who represent more than 150,000 European local and regional authorities.

  President of the Congress: Anders Knape (Sweden, EPP/CCE), President of the Chamber of Local Authorities: Xavier Cadoret (France, SOC/G/PD), President of the Chamber of Regions: Gunn Marit Helgesen (Norway, EPP/CCE).

  Political groups: Group of Socialists, Greens and Progressive Democrats (SOC/G/PD), Group of the European Peoples Party (EPP/CCE), Independent Liberal and Democratic Group (ILDG), European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR)

   

• Irakli Kobakhidze elected as Vice President of PACE

  Irakli Kobakhidze, a member of the Georgian Parliament, has been elected as Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

  The voting was held as part of the Winter Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg today.  The Delegation of the Parliament of Georgia, headed by Irakli Kobakhidze, participates in the session.

  19 candidates have been elected as Vice Presidents of PACE.

  Twenty Vice-Presidents are elected annually at the beginning of an ordinary session and remain in office until the opening of the next session.

  As a reminder, Georgia took over the chairmanship of Council of Europe’s (CoE) Committee of Ministers for a six-month term starting November 27.

  Georgian Foreign Minister Davit Zalkaliani will deliver a speech at the Winter Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg today.

  On January 28, President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili will address Assembly members as well. The Presidents of Georgia and the Republic of Moldova, as well as the Georgian Foreign Minister and President of the Committee of Ministers and the newly-elected Secretary General of the Council of Europe, will address PACE and answer questions.
  
  Debates on the agenda include a complementary joint procedure between the Committee of Ministers and the Assembly in response to a serious violation by a member State of its statutory obligations, the functioning of democratic institutions in Poland, and reported cases of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

   

• Georgian parliamentary speaker Irakli Kobakhidze resigned from his post

  Georgian parliamentary speaker Irakli Kobakhidze resigned from his post on June 21 following overnight clashes between police and demonstrators outside of the parliament in Tbilisi.
  
  A statement on Kobakhidze's resignation was read out to journalists in Tbilisi on June 21 by Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze, the secretary-general of the ruling Georgian Dream party, after a meeting of the party leadership.
  
  Although Kobakhidze was standing in the briefing room while the statement was being read out to journalists, he left the room without making any comment.
  
  Georgian opposition leaders earlier on June 21 vowed to return to the streets of Tbilisi on the evening of June 21 to call for the resignations of I. Kobakhidze and Georgia's interior minister.
  
  Demonstrators also are demanding early parliamentary elections in response to the political crisis that has erupted following the overnight violence.

  Grigol Vashadze, chairman of the United National Movement party, called for demonstrators to gather for a rally beginning at 7 p.m. local time near the parliament building where the clashes occurred overnight.

  Irakli Kobakhidze was elected as the Speaker of the Parliament on November 18, 2016.

  MP Archil Talakvadze is expected to replace I. Kobakhidze.