The ruling party considered the recommendation of Olivér Várhelyi, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, and Pawel Herczynski, EU Ambassador to Georgia, to send the de-oligarchization bill to the Venice Commission for assessment, even though such a move was not required.

Georgian Dream (GD) chair stated: “I still feel that submitting the bill to the Venice Commission was unnecessary. However, such requests were conveyed, and we responded accordingly.”

When asked yet what the UNM party’s opponents might seek to support the law, Irakli Kobakhidze stated the opponents were not primarily interested in de-oligarchization.

“The only reason they wanted the bill submitted to the Venice Commission was to impede the execution of de-oligarchization in Georgia,” the GD Chair added.

The ruling Georgian Dream party announced on November 28 that it would send the bill on de-oligarchization to the Venice Commission for legal review. The Parliament will not consider the draft in the third reading until the opinion of the Commission is known.

The EU delegation to Georgia welcomed the Georgian Parliament’s decision to submit the de-oligarchization bill to the Venice Commission, an Advisory Board of the Council of Europe, for the opinion before its final approval.