Council of Europe to Remind Georgia Its Obligations

The Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe will discuss the issue of fulfillment of obligations undertaken by Georgia. The official website of EU informs on the corresponding.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe held its opening session yesterday on April 11th. Today, the debates will be held on several topics, including the fulfillment of obligations undertaken by Georgia.

The report by the speakers of the Monitoring Committee Kastriot Islami and Michael Jensen will be discussed at today’s session. The report consists of five chapters – introduction, main political developments, democratic institutions, rule of law and human rights.

The conclusion of 40-page documents states that “despite the consequences of the August 2008 war with Russia, and the political standoff that has plagued the political environment during much of the reporting period, the Georgian authorities have made great efforts, and achieved considerable progress, in honouring their obligations and commitments to the Council of Europe.” However, there are several remarks.

“Georgia still has to implement some of its formal accession commitments. In addition, concerns remain with regard to the independence of the judiciary and the effective and fair administration of justice,” – states the conclusion of the report.

The authors think that despite considerable progress in the field of strengthening of democratic institutions, further democratic reforms to resolve the charged political climate are still necessary.

“The robustness of the democratic system will need to be confirmed in the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections. We therefore recommend that the Assembly continue the monitoring procedure in respect of Georgia,” – states the report.

The official website of Council of Europe fully publishes the report prepared by Kastriot Islami and Michael Jensen:

http://assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc11/eDOC12554.htm 

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