“De-oligarchizarion is a complex issue. This is the issue of the excessive influence of rich businessmen on political life. This challenge is not specific to Georgia. This challenge is also present in other countries of central and eastern Europe,” said Pawel Herczynski, EU Ambassador to Georgia.

According to the EU Ambassador, the Georgian government chose a specific approach.

“We are very grateful that international standard-setters have been consulted, and the last recommendation from Venice Commission, which is an internationally recognized standard-setter when it comes to legal issues, is very clear.

The approach that has been chosen is not the right one. The Venice Commission has pointed to the fact that this approach actually entails many risks and the Venice Commission suggested a different approach, a systemic approach.

We sincerely hope that the Georgian political elite will very swiftly revise its attitude and will come out with a vision of how to tackle the issue of the excessive influence of oligarchs in Georgia with a systemic approach.

This means that we are not talking about individuals or names, but we are talking about the creation of an environment in which the excessive influence of oligarchs would become impossible or far more difficult. We are talking about the financing of political parties, transparency of elections, high-level corruption, and transparency of the whole system. So, we are talking about many different issues that need to be tackled in order to limit the excessive influence of rich oligarchs on political life,” he said.