The EU has welcomed the decision of the largest opposition political party in Georgia, the United National Movement (UNM), that its elected Members of Parliament will enter Parliament. Following this decision, almost all of the 150 MPs will carry out their mandates entrusted to them by the citizens of Georgia in the 2020 parliamentary elections.
“This development is another positive step towards the strengthening of Georgia’s democratic institutions, and we encourage the UNM Members to use their mandates constructively,” says the joint statement issued on 30 May by the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia and the United States Embassy on the implementation of the EU-mediated agreement of 19 April.
However, the EU and USA strongly regretted that the UNM did not seize the opportunity to join the other parliamentary parties in signing the 19 April Agreement: “The UNM shares the responsibility with the other elected parties to engage constructively in Parliament to address perceptions of politicised justice, adopt and scrutinise the implementation of ambitious electoral and judicial reform and participate in power-sharing within Parliament, among many priorities. This is important work that needs the responsible participation of all of Georgia’s elected leaders.”
The 19 April Agreement remains open for signatures of both parliamentary party leaders and individual Members of Parliament, reminds the statement.
