Discussion of Constitutional Changes Starts in Berlin

Discussion of constitutional changes will start in Berlin today. The speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze and members of parliament, the Secretary of the Venice Commission, Thomas Markert, as well as experts, representatives of the Administration of the President, constitutionalists and representatives of NGOs will discuss the draft constitutional law.

The governing team does not expect major comments. According to Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Chairman of the faction - Georgian Dream, in case there are specific critical comments, no respective changes will take place.

“We do not expect any specific criticism from the Venice Commission, yet there are issues for discussion during these days and we believe that eventually, the conclusion of the Venice Commission will be positive regarding all the issues, but in case there are any particular comments in negative context, we refuse to make such changes. We have announced this in advance”, - Mamuka Mdinaradze said.

The member of the constitutional commission does not expect particular criticism with regard to the model of the distribution of mandates either.
“We intend to announce about it these days, we will avoid theoretical risks and respective provision will appear in the draft constitution. Therefore, we do expect particular criticism about the issue. Yet, if there is such criticism, we will obviously discuss other suggestions as well”, – Mamuka Mdinaradze said.

Irakli Kobakhidze, Dirk Schattschneider, the head of the South-Eastern and Eastern Europe and South Caucasus Division of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany, Michael Zibert, the Head of South Caucasus and Central Asia Department of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, and Wolfgang Babeck, a professor at Bond University will open with welcome speeches the conference to be held in Berlin on May 22-23. Discussion will take place as well.

The conference is organized with the assistance of the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) and will be attended by Members of Parliament of Georgia: Tamar Chugoshvili, Mamuka Mdinaradze, Giorgi Kakhiani, Giorgi Lomia, Salome Samadashvili, Zurab Chiaberashvili, representatives of the Administration of the President, international and non-governmental organizations and experts.