President Salome Zourabichvili refuses to nominate Lasha Khutsishvili, the Minister of Finance, as one of the members of the Board of the National Bank of Georgia. According to a statement that the Georgian Dream ruling party released earlier today, there was an agreement with Zourabichvili that she would nominate Khutsishvili's candidacy, after which the appointment of the president of the National Bank would be possible.
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According to the statement by the political council of Georgian Dream, the actions of Salome Zourabichvili “is impeding the proper functioning of another important constitutional institution.”
“To date, two positions of the board member are vacant in the National Bank of Georgia, and the position of the President of the National Bank also became vacant on March 2. By the Constitution of Georgia, the members of the Board of the National Bank are nominated by the President and elected by the Parliament. Therefore, the said decision should be reached jointly through consultations between the ruling party and the president. Such talks between the party and the president have already taken place, after which the president of Georgia confirmed her readiness to nominate Lasha Khutsishvili as one of the members of the board of the National Bank.
After manning the board with at least one member, it would be possible to appoint the president of the National Bank. During the consultations, specific dates were also announced - February, March 8, and others. However, the president violated all the agreed deadlines and has still not presented a candidate for membership of the board to the parliament as of today.
According to one of the agreements, Mrs. Zourabichvili would nominate the candidacy of Lasha Khutsishvili to the Parliament only if the Parliament of Georgia did not overcome the veto imposed by the President on the organic law “On the National Bank of Georgia”. Parliament fulfilled the agreement and did not overcome the veto, however, unfortunately, Salome Zourabichvili broke the promise in this case as well. The last correspondence with the president regarding the issue of the election of council members took place yesterday at the initiative of the ruling party, however, Salome Zourabichvili stated that she will not present any candidate to the parliament until the end of the year.
Such a negligent attitude of the president towards one of the most important constitutional institutions is in direct contradiction with her constitutional responsibility. There are clear signs that the President of Georgia is intentionally creating obstacles to the smooth operation of the National Bank of Georgia with her actions,” states the ruling party.
Georgian Dream intends to overcome the President's veto and adopt amendments to the organic law “On the National Bank of Georgia”. The parliament will complete the veto-overcoming procedure in the next session week.
Georgian Dream adopted amendments to the organic law “On the National Bank of Georgia” on February 9 in an accelerated manner, and on February 23, President Zourabichvili vetoed the law. She explained that the changes in the law are “neither necessary, nor urgent, nor reasoned.”
According to the legislative changes initiated by Georgian Dream, the position of the first vice-president is added to the composition of the board of the National Bank, which currently has 9 members. In the absence of the President of the National Bank, the Vice-President will perform his duties.
“Is the government not satisfied with any of the vice-presidential candidates and needs to create an additional seat? Also, this creates a possibility that should the candidates nominated by the president does not have the support of the parliament, the law allows the first vice president to perform the duties of the president of the national bank for an indefinite period,” said Zourabichvili while explaining her veto.
Koba Gvenetadze's term of office as the president of the National Bank expired in March. Archil Mestvirishvili, who was one of the vice presidents, currently performs the duties of the president.
According to the current law, the President of the National Bank is appointed and dismissed from among the members of the National Bank Council by the President of Georgia, on the recommendation of the National Bank Council. Vice-presidents of the National Bank are appointed and dismissed by the Council of the National Bank upon the nomination of the President of the National Bank. 4 out of 9 members of the Council are executive members - the president and 3 vice-presidents, and 5 members are non-executive. In the absence of the president of the National Bank, one of the vice presidents performs his duties.
According to the current law, the President of the National Bank is appointed and dismissed from among the members of the National Bank Council by the President of Georgia, on the recommendation of the National Bank Council.
Vice-presidents of the National Bank are appointed and dismissed by the Council of the National Bank upon the nomination of the President of the National Bank. 4 out of 9 members of the Council are executive members - the president and 3 vice-presidents, and 5 members are non-executive. In the absence of the president of the National Bank, one of the vice presidents performs his duties.
The National Bank itself did not agree with the legislative changes initiated by the Georgian Dream deputies. According to Archil Mestvirishvili, by the new law, 5 members of the Council will be executive and 4 - non-executive members, thus the role of the National Bank Council as an independent supervisory body will be negated. In addition, Mestvirishvili has said that in the absence of the President of the National Bank, the assignment of his powers to a specific Vice President has never hindered the Bank's operation.
