The European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) considers that the revised version of the law on de-oligarchization, which was sent to the Commission by the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, Shalva Papuashvili for evaluation in April, is neither democratic nor an effective answer to the problem of oligarchization.
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The final opinion of the commission was published on June 12. The Venice Commission notes that the revised version presented by the parliament does reflect a large part of the recommendations of the commission’s March 2023 interim report, which concerned the issue of “personal approach”. However, the Venice Commission considers that the steps made in improving the draft law have not in any way negated the main shortcoming of the law in that it still allows the executive to initiate and follow through a procedure that risks entailing a public “blacklisting” of potential political opponents based on vague criteria, absent any indication of wrongdoing.
According to the Venice Commission, the potentially selective application of the law’s provisions could seriously threaten the rule of law and undermine political pluralism, while not doing much in the way of countering oligarchic influence.
“A personalized de-oligarchisation law like the one being assessed risks becoming a dangerous tool in the hands of those in power to harass political opponents…
As at this stage, the Venice Commission is not convinced that the changes to the revised draft the law could remedy the unavoidable frictions with Council of Europe standards on human rights, democracy and the rule of law, the Venice Commission recommends pursuing the “systemic” approach, and, in light of the above considerations, the Venice Commission recommends not to adopt the revised draft law,” writes Venice Commission in its final report.
The Venice Commission recommends that in its pursuit to fight oligarchic influence in the country, the Georgian government does the following:
- Carry out an in-depth and comprehensive analysis of the existing systemic measures, of their shortcomings in terms of structure, powers, and coordination.
- Devise corrective, additional, or complementary legislation or measures, which, inter alia, include establishing and implementing an effective competition policy; strengthening the fight against high-level corruption and the prevention of corruption; upholding the transparency of and accountability in public procurement; strengthening media pluralism and transparency of media ownership; further enhancing the anti-money laundering policy, including the transparency of legal persons and arrangements and timely and effective access to beneficial ownership information; reinforcing rules on the financing of political parties and election campaigns and existing control mechanisms; amending tax legislation.
- Strengthen the independence and effectiveness of the key regulatory and controlling authorities
- Assess the way various institutions (anti-corruption bodies, anti-monopoly committee, state audits, banking supervisory authorities, etc.) can work better together in preventing and eliminating the influence of “oligarchs” over political, economic, and public life.
- Carry out an impact assessment of such measures at regular intervals.
- Put thus in place a comprehensive system to prevent and fight oligarchic influence through a focused strategy/action plan to address oligarchisation, recognizing the interconnected nature of the problem, allowing for bridges to be built between various fields of law and the institutions that implement them.
The Venice Commission underlines that, in order for the above-mentioned system to function effectively, the holistic reform of the judicial system aimed at ensuring its independence, integrity and impartiality, including of the High Council of Justice, fully in line with Venice Commission recommendations, should be relentlessly pursued.
De-oligarchization is one of the 12 prerequisites defined by the European Commission in June 2022, which Georgia is required to fulfill in order to receive the status of a candidate country for EU membership. Georgian Dream decided it could tick off this condition of the 12-point plan by adopting the “Law on De-oligarchization”. The leaders of the ruling party say that in no way does the designation of an oligarch apply to Bidzina Ivanishvili, and if they adopt this law, it will be applied against the likes of the founder of TV Formula, businessman, and a former Minister of Defense, Davit Kezerashvili.
