The Parliament of Georgia has elected the judges of the Supreme Court and Europeans are obliged to respect the decision, Thea Tsulukiani, Minister of Justice of Georgia told reporters.

‘We are an independent, sovereign state; We have adopted a law. Even some Western countries do not have as transparent rules for the election of the judges as Georgia has.

Therefore, I would advise them to share our laws. As for specific names, the Parliament of Georgia has chosen these people, and all Europeans are obliged to respect the decision,’ Tsulukiani stated.

Parliament of Georgia has approved 14 judicial candidates to be appointed at the Supreme Court of Georgia earlier on December 12. The voting for 20 judicial candidates has been conducted at a plenary session. The MPs backed 14 of the 20 nominated judicial candidates.

The EEAS, the European Union’s diplomatic service has released the statement on the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court of Georgia.

As the Spokesperson states the selection procedure did not adhere to all recommendations made by the Venice Commission and was characterised by key shortcomings, including a lack of transparency that undermines a genuinely merit-based nomination process.

Selection procedure to appoint judges to the Supreme Court of #Georgia not transparent,risk for credibility of #judiciary. Important also for relations with the EU. Our statement here: https://t.co/y8hPgaQEjD

— Peter Stano (@ExtSpoxEU) December 13, 2019

Soon after the plenary session The U.S. Embassy echoed the Parliament`s decision and released the statement on supreme court nominees.

As the official statement reads during the hearings, a number of candidates were unable to demonstrate sufficiently their legal expertise or a commitment to impartiality. The U.S. Embassy regrets the list of candidates approved in Parliament today includes such nominees.

U.S. Embassy’s statement on supreme court nominees. https://t.co/hCTOJbL0QT

— U.S. Embassy Tbilisi (@usingeo) December 12, 2019