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• It is in our interest that the national interests of the country, which are related to the occupied territories, are reflected as much as possible in all documents of the Council of Europe

  STRASBOURG. It is in our interest that the national interests of the country, which are related to the occupied territories, are reflected as much as possible in all documents of the Council of Europe, - Chairman of the "Georgian Dream" party, Irakli Kobakhidze said in connection with the opening of the autumn session of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

  According to him, in addition to participation in the autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, bilateral meetings with Georgian partners from different countries are planned.  

  "Such formats are very important to deepen relations with partners in both bilateral and multilateral formats, and this format shall be used maximally for this purpose. It is in our interest that the national interests of our country related to the occupied territories and the situation there are reflected as much as possible in all documents of the Council of Europe. Naturally, the situation is complicated in the region and at this time it is most important that our national interests should be emphasized maximally to our partners", Irakli Kobakhidze said. 

  Remind you that the autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is holding in Strasbourg from 10 to 14 October.

  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to address the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe by videoconference on Thursday.

  There will also be addresses by the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, and the President of the Swiss Confederation, Ignazio Cassis, as well as the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama.

  Thomas Byrne, Ireland’s European Affairs Minister, will present the Communication from the Committee of Ministers in the framework of the Irish Presidency of the Council of Europe.

  The Organization’s Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić will hold the usual question time with PACE members.

• THE SPEAKER SIGNED THE DRAFT CHANGES TO THE CRIMINAL CODE OF PRACTICE

  “There are no legal or expediency arguments that can impede the enactment of the hereof Law and hence, I signed the Law”, - the Speaker, Shalva Papuashvili stated at the extraordinary briefing speaking about the process of the development of the Law and the Presidential veto.

  He underlined that similar to Mme. Zourabichvili, who had no legal remarks concerning the Law, nor Venice Commission detected incompliance of the draft with the ECHR standards.

  “As you may know, the President used her right of veto to the hereof Law on June 23, calling it a political veto and thus, underlining the fact of absence of the legal remarks towards it, however, she considered the adoption thereof as politically inexpedient due to the criticism by certain groups concerning the pace of the consideration of the hereof Law and the engagement of the parties concerned. Subsequently, the President addressed the Venice Commission appealing to provide their opinions regarding the Law. On August 26, the Venice Commission promulgated its opinions regarding the Law. Similarly to the Presidential veto, the Venice Commission failed to detect any contradictions to the European or international standards on human rights. At that, Venice Commission, based on their interviews with certain actors in Georgia, reiterated the opinion about the pace of the adoption of the Law and the engagement of the parties concerned. I hereby provide the perception, which has been unfortunately attempted to establish towards the hereof Law”, - he stated.

  As the Speaker elucidated, the initiators have not required expedited consideration of the draft initiated on April 13, 2022, and hence, the draft has been under standard consideration procedure.

  “Moreover, providing the particular interest to the Draft and based on the appeal of our partners, the consideration has been extended for 3 weeks. Eventually, the Parliament adopted the Law with the III reading in 2 months upon the initiation and providing the overcoming of veto, the Law has been adopted in 5 months, which has nothing in common with an expedited manner; All relevant state agencies, all NGOs concerned, and all international actors have been engaged in the initial consideration so in the overcoming of veto. The Draft has been under consideration not only in the Committees but at the Working Group meetings, including with the EU experts online. Every party enjoyed the opportunity and enough time to submit their contextual remarks concerning the incompliance of the Draft with any of the European or international human rights standards. You can find zero groups concerned capable of stating that despite their will to participate in the consideration, they lacked this opportunity, which has nothing in common with non-inclusiveness”.

  The Speaker underlined that even 5 months after the initiation of the draft, no contextual remarks have been made that could put the compliance of the draft with any human rights standards under doubt. “On the contrary, the discussions with the local groups concerned or the international actors revealed that the hereof Law is in full compliance with the practice of the European Court of Human Rights. The consideration of the veto confirmed the absence of the answer to the reiterated question to specify the human rights standard that the hereof Law is in breach thereto”, - he noted.

  The only opinion expressed concerns the expediency of the adoption of the Law, he added: “pursuant to Article 36 of the Constitution of Georgia, the Parliament is the supreme legislative body determining various directions of state politics, including the creation of the respective legal base in view of the higher efficiency of investigative actions. Hence, the issue of expediency of the adoption of the Laws is attributed to the exclusive competence of the Parliament. In sum, it took 5 months in the Parliament to discuss the hereof issue and on September 6, the Parliament ultimately confirmed its decision. Thus, there are no legal or expediency arguments that can impede the enactment of the hereof Law and hence, I signed the Law”.

• Kakha Kaladze attended the Qari Brand Electric Vehicle Presentation

  The Mayor of Tbilisi, Kakha Kaladze, attended the presentation of the Qari brand electric vehicle and tested the vehicle himself.

  Qari is an eco-friendly electric vehicle sharing service designed for quick and easy movement in urban conditions.

  “Introducing environmentally friendly transport to the city is a very cool project. I mean scooters, and electric motorcycles, which are very popular. Today, Citroen brand electric vehicles have been added to them. The Municipality City Hall will support the implementation of such projects in the future as well. We communicated with the company and asked them to add bicycles to the presented transport in the future” – said Kakha Kaladze.

  As the operational director of Qari Company, Jugha Sikharulidze, noted, Citroen Ami electric car emits no exhaust fumes and the maximum speed of this vehicle is 45 km/h.

  A month ago, we launched the Qari vehicle sharing service in test mode. Currently, we are working at full capacity. In total, there are 60 electric vehicles in the city. Citroen Ami model is small in size, has a speed limit, which is safe for moving in the city, and also convenient for parking in the city” – said Jugha Sikharulidze.

  Downloading and registering the application is a necessary condition for using the mentioned car. After using it, the car can be parked in the parking zones of the Qari application.

• Tbilisi and Bucharest become twin cities

  Tbilisi has the 22nd twin city as Georgia and Romania Monday signed a memorandum on the establishment of twin-city relations. Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze signed the document as part of a visit to Bucharest.

  "Georgia would have the opportunity to cooperate with Romania in various areas, like sports, culture, urban planning, and transport,” Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said.

  “Bucharest and Tbilisi have a lot in common. I hope that the deepening of relations will help us exchange our views and experiences and further cooperate,” Bucharest Mayor Nicușor Dan noted.

  According to the Tbilisi City Hall, a bust of Shota Rustaveli will unveil in King Mihai I Park in Bucharest.

• Georgian Parliament in your phone: EU helps to set up application

  The EU has helped to create the Geo Parliament smartphone application.

  The app will be useful for all those who want to be more involved in the activities of the Georgian parliament, read draft laws, make comments or have online communication with any member of parliament.

  The Geo Parliament app can be downloaded and installed from the Google Play Store and the Apple Store.

  Source: EU NEIGHBOURS east