Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chairman of the ruling party Georgian Dream, has announced the party is initiating an impeachment procedure against President Salome Zourabichvili. The party accuses the president of flagrant violation of the constitution, as despite the government's refusal, Salome Zourabichvili started meetings with European leaders in support of granting Georgia the status of a candidate country for EU membership.
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‘’Today, the meeting of the political council of the party was held, where, in addition to other matters, we discussed the fact of gross violation of the Constitution of Georgia by the President of Georgia.
As you know, the President of Georgia, Ms. Salome Zourabichvili, grossly violated the Constitution of Georgia and started a series of visits to foreign countries without the government’s consent.
According to the Constitution of Georgia, only the Government of Georgia is authorized to implement both domestic and foreign policy of the country. According to Article 52, Clause 1, Sub-Clause ‘’A’’ of the Constitution of Georgia, the President of Georgia can exercise representative powers in foreign relations only with the approval of the Government. Accordingly, the wording of the Constitution leaves minimal room for inconsistent interpretation.
The public is well aware that the President of Georgia has a radically different stance from the Government in regard to the processes related to Georgia's receiving of the EU membership candidate status. In particular, her position is that Georgia did not deserve the candidate status last year. Moreover, according to her statement, the Parliament of Georgia is only formally fulfilling the requirements of the European Union, which means that, in her view, Georgia does not deserve the status of a candidate now, either.
In light of such an attitude, it is obvious that any European visit of the President of Georgia is counterproductive from the point of view of Georgia receiving the candidate status and directly opposes the efforts of the Georgian government to grant Georgia the said status. Therefore, the refusal of the Georgian government regarding the European tour planned by the president is justified both from the legal and political points of view.
Salome Zourabichvili is trying to play a kind of a win-win game. On the one hand, she knows that from today’s standpoint, the prospect of granting Georgia the status of a candidate has increased, and seeks to score herself political points from it. On the other hand, she will try, as much as possible, to prevent Georgia from actually receiving the candidate status.
The Constitution of Georgia envisages the only effective legal mechanism for responding to its violation - this is impeachment. Yesterday and the day before, we repeatedly pointed out that despite the gross violation of the Constitution, in the current political situation,
It is impossible to complete the impeachment procedure. Impeachment requires the support of 100 parliamentarians, and therefore, without the votes from the radical opposition, it has no prospect of implementation.
However, despite this, at the meeting of the political council of the party, we made a decision to initiate the impeachment procedure against the President of Georgia anyway. First and foremost, this is our duty before the Constitution of Georgia. Any turning a blind eye to gross violations of the Constitution of Georgia undermines the rule of law and the democratic constitutional system, which we cannot allow.
In addition, the impeachment procedure will once again expose the common agenda of the radical opposition and Salome Zourabichvili, which is directed against the state interests of Georgia, including Georgia’s prospects of receiving the candidate status.
In order to initiate the impeachment procedure, the signatures of the members of the parliamentary majority will be collected in the coming days, and the relevant constitutional submission will be submitted to the Constitutional Court of Georgia,’’ said Kobakhidze.
The signatures of at least 50 deputies are required to file a constitutional lawsuit. At this stage, the parliamentary majority has 84 deputies. The Constitutional Court has a one-month deadline to reach a verdict, and after the ruling, 100 deputies' votes are needed to unseat the president, which Georgian Dream does not have.
Georgian Dream appealed to the Constitutional Court against Salome Zourabichvili last year as well. The ruling party disputed the president’s appointment of ambassadors. In a few months, the party withdrew the lawsuit.
On August 30, the Georgian government issued a statement, according to which the president was denied visits to Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, the Arab Emirates, Israel, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic because the implementation of the country's foreign policy is the prerogative of the Georgian government.
The government’s statement was preceded by the information released by the presidential administration that Salome Zourabichvili, with the visit to the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on August 31, in Berlin, starts a series of meetings with European leaders in support of granting Georgia the status of a candidate country for EU membership.
