The Parliament of Georgia overcame the President's veto on the draft amendments to the Organic Law “On the National Bank of Georgia’’ by 82 votes to 9. The majority of deputies did not share the position of Salome Zurabishvili, according to which the legislative changes will lead to gross interference in the governance of the constitutional body - the National Bank, and are perceived as an attempt to limit its independence.
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Before the veto override procedure began, the political council of Georgian Dream released information about the negotiations with the president. In particular, according to the statement of the ruling party, if Salome Zurabishvili agreed to nominate the Minister of Finance Lasha Khutsishvili to the Parliament as one of the candidates for membership of the National Council, the Parliament would not override the veto. The president refused to nominate Khutsishvili. As the administration explained, Salome Zurabishvili had doubts regarding his impartiality, which were further reinforced by the categorical insistence of the government to promote Khutsishvili, pressuring and blackmailing the president.
According to the legislative changes, a new executive position - the position of the first vice-president - is being introduced in the National Bank Council. The First Vice-President shall perform the duties of the President of the National Bank in his absence, and in case of his inability to exercise his authority, the Council of the National Bank shall assign one of the Vice-Presidents to perform the duties of the President. By the new law, the board of the National Bank will consist of 5 executives and 4 non-executive members, thereby negating the role of the board as an independent supervisory body.
Opposition MPs believe that the real reason for amending the law is for Georgian Dream to establish control over the National Bank.
“The amendments were proposed at a time when the government got a feeling they might lose their grip on the National Bank. Why didn’t we override the veto right away? Because you, the majority party were hoping to strike an agreement with the president under the table, and that she would nominate a candidate favorable to you. You didn’t care about any institutional changes then, like adding vice presidents, or a prefix ‘’first’’ to their title. This draft law would flow under the bridge like so many others. So, you only care that a person beneficial to you becomes the head of the bank.
Yes, this is exactly how the previous government exploited the parliament and legislation – if they didn’t favor anyone or anything, they would just eliminate them and bulldoze over everything. This law is a telltale sign that we haven’t learned anything from Saakashvili’s misdeeds and are stepping on the same rake,” stated Lelo party member, David Usupashvili during his speech at the plenary session.
“Everything that’s being done is aimed at appointing a National Bank president who is obedient to the ruling party,” remarked the chairman of the “Euro optimists” group, and a former president of the National Bank (2005-2007), Roman Gotsiridze.
The amendments in the law “On the National Bank of Georgia” initiated by Georgian Dream deputies (Paata Kvizhinadze, Irakli Zarkua, Gogi Meshveliani, Rima Beradze, and Anton Obolashvili), were adopted by the parliament on February 9 under an accelerated procedure. By the existing law prior to legislative changes, in the absence of the president of the National Bank, one of the three vice presidents performed his duties. According to the authors of the amendments, it was unclear what procedure was used to assign duties to either vice president.
On February 23, President Salome Zurabishvili used the right of veto against the changes. “What is the need for an additional vice-president, when one of the three existing vice-presidents can perform the duties of the president perfectly well? This is confirmed by practice,’’ she said.
The International Monetary Fund welcomed the President’s decision.
Currently, instead of the 9 stipulated by the law, the Board of the National Bank has 7 members: Archil Mestvirishvili (Vice-President, Acting President), Papuna Lezhava (Vice-President), Nikoloz Gagua (Vice-President), Natia Turnava (former Minister of Economy), Ekaterine Mikabadze (former Deputy Minister of Economy), Ekaterine Galdava (adviser of the Ministry of Infrastructure, former head of the audit department of Bank Kartu), Robert Singletary (financial sector development specialist). The positions of two executive members are vacant.
The National Bank does not have a president for today, because Koba Gvenetadze's term of office expired back in March. Since then, Archil Mestvirishvili has been serving as acting president, whose term expires at the beginning of December.
