Public Institution Department Heads No Longer Required to Have Knowledge of Georgian Language

On December 13, Parliament approved an amendment in an expedited manner, under which the heads and deputies of the primary structural units will no longer be considered civil servants. Instead, they will be employed under an administrative contract. Knowledge of the state language is one of the main requirements for civil servants, as established by the Law on Public Service.

"Against the backdrop of other harmful amendments made to this law, whether this detail is omitted or not cannot change the fact that the head or deputy of a public institution structure could be someone who does not know Georgian," said Nona Kurdovanidze, Chairwoman of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association.

Natia Mezvrishvili, Deputy Chairwoman of the Gakharia for Georgia Party, who has worked in public services for years, also responded to the legislative amendment.

"The main issue is that the head and deputy of the primary structural unit (i.e., department) are no longer considered civil servants, and the procedure for their employment has been simplified - they are hired by administrative agreement, rather than through a competitive examination. This means that the head and deputy of the department become political figures and are not obliged to maintain political neutrality. (Against this backdrop, you can imagine what will happen inside the departments.) The qualification requirements (higher education, seniority) stipulated in Government Resolution No. 215 of April 26, 2017, will no longer apply to the head and deputy of the department.

All of this means the rise of new heights of nepotism, the politicization of the civil service, increased pressure on the heads of departments and their deputies, and an attempt to control the situation within the system through them.

Knowledge of the state language is a necessary prerequisite for employment as a civil servant (this remains the case for now). However, with the amendment, since the head and deputy head of the department are no longer civil servants, they are no longer required to know the state language. I believe this part was done deliberately. However, given the main purpose of the law, I also think it was omitted. Since we are dealing with an authoritarian, Russian-style, and illegitimate regime, of course, nothing is ruled out. It will become clear," Mezvrishvili noted.

The Chairman of the illegitimate Parliament of Georgia, Shalva Papuashvili, emphasizes that civil service is conducted in Georgian and that nothing has changed in this regard.

“An administrative agreement is one of the tools used to hire various specialists, including those in one institution or another. For example, a foreign expert could be hired, but of course, when we are talking about structural units of public authorities where proceedings are conducted in Georgian, the state language, where documents are created in Georgian and communication with employees is also in Georgian, knowledge of the Georgian language is naturally a criterion here.

Today, one of my colleagues also mentioned that, if we look at the law, it does not state anywhere that a judge of the Constitutional Court must know the Georgian language. Do you think someone will be elected to the Constitutional Court who does not know the state language? This is very petty disinformation.

To emphasize once again, knowledge of the Georgian language will always be the main criterion for working in the public service,” Papuashvili told journalists.

Shalva Papuashvili accuses GYLA Chairwoman Nona Kurdovanidze of spreading disinformation and appeals to the organization's donors, including the British Embassy, to demand that they refute the "disinformation."