The Cabinet of the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia released a statement regarding the cancellation of the visit of the MEPs to Georgia.

The statement says that in order to avoid further misunderstandings, it is desirable for the relevant services of the European Parliament to fully disclose the communication with the Cabinet of the Parliament of Georgia regarding the preparatory visit of the Jean Monnet Dialogue.

“The Jean Monnet Dialogue is a parliamentary format, implemented on the basis of the agreement between the President of the European Parliament and the Chairman of the Parliament of the respective country. It aims to support the promotion of inter-party dialogue within the parliament.

The Jean Monnet Dialogue is a process based on cooperation, rather than a format of spontaneous and unilaterally planned activities. Therefore, it is important for the process to be properly prepared and implemented in order to prevent this tool from becoming a source of polarization itself, instead of reducing polarization.

It is noteworthy that a new Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia and a new President of the European Parliament were elected since Georgia began to communicate with the President of the European Parliament on the initiation of the Jean Monnet Dialogue. Considering the personal role and involvement of the chairpersons in the dialogue process, it is important that a meeting is held between the newly elected chairpersons and that matters pertaining to the conduct of the dialogue are agreed upon prior to the start of the dialogue. Planning a preparatory visit would be logical and appropriate precisely after this. This information was provided to the relevant services of the European Parliament.

At the same time, the Jean Monnet Dialogue is based on the principle of minimal publicity. Correspondingly, the statement issued by the three MEPs on 21 January only increases the risk of polarization and does not promote the start of the dialogue process.

In order to avoid further misunderstandings, it is desirable for the relevant services of the European Parliament to fully disclose the communication with the Cabinet of the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia regarding the preparatory visit for the Jean Monnet Dialogue,” reads the statement.

On January 21, members of the European Parliament Viola von Cramon-Taubadel, DEG’s Lead Member for Georgia, Miriam Lexmann and Marina Kaljurand, issued a statement saying: “As co-facilitators of the Jean Monnet Dialogue, we regret that the visit planned for 21-22 January in Tbilisi will not take place as Chairman Shalva Papuashvili did not find the time to engage.”