Georgian delegation suspends participation in PACE activity

TBILISI. Jan 30 (Interfax) - The Georgian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has suspended participation in the assembly's activity, spokesperson of the ruling party Georgian Dream Tea Tsulukiani told journalists.

The decision was made over a PACE resolution, calling on Georgian authorities to hold new parliamentary elections in coming months, which is unacceptable to Georgia, she said in a statement on Wednesday night.

The resolution sets out conditions which are unacceptable because they are unfair and groundless, she said.

"The PACE has been debating whether to confirm credentials of our delegation or not in recent days. Many people, above all, our anti-government opposition and some non-governmental organizations, were fighting against confirmation of the credentials of the delegation of the new Georgian parliament. Their plan failed first at committee hearings and then at a plenary session where only 43 out of 306 assembly members voted for depriving the Georgian delegation of its credentials," Tsulukiani said.

"Therefore, credentials of the new Georgian parliament's delegation were put to final vote and confirmed a few minutes ago. However, the document confirming its credentials has a number of reservations," Tsulukiani said. "Many reservations are unacceptable to us because they are unfair and groundless. Besides, the first reservation, which concerns new elections, goes beyond jurisdiction of the assembly, infringes the sovereignty of our state, and ignores facts and the will of over 1,120,000 of voters, which makes it absolute unacceptable. Accepting this reservation would betray our voters and, thereby, the overwhelming majority of our public," she said.

"We believe that as long as the completely unfair and unfounded blackmail of the authorities elected by the Georgian people continues, evidence and facts are disregarded, and debates are biased and insulting towards our population, participation of our parliamentary delegation in the assembly activity will make no sense and have no excuse," Tsulukiani said.

Georgia, as a state, remains a member of the Council of Europe; however, Georgian delegation members will not resume participation in the assembly activity until the unfair treatment of the Georgian state and people and the blackmail stop, she said.