Georgian President criticizes PM, parliament for actions taken ahead of EU summit
TBILISI. June 23 (Interfax) - Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has vetoed a wiretap bill and has reminded officials that the European Union is hoping to see more democracy in Georgia.
"Today, I have applied my veto right to a bill that allows wiretapping and expands wiretapping practices, which trample upon human rights," Zourabichvili said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
The Council of the European Union is due to make a final decision on EU candidate status applications from Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova, she said.
Zourabichvili said she realized that the parliament would overrule her veto but it was her way of expressing disagreement with the bill.
"The same will happen to all bills which are adopted in the wrong direction within the next six months. This is largely a political veto, as Georgia cannot pass a law further infringing on human rights on these days, as [the EU] asks us to give additional guarantees that we are more democratic, more European," she said.
Zourabichvili criticized Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili for his speech in parliament and his behavior during speeches by deputies.
A demonstration held in Tbilisi on Monday in support of European integration gathered together people from various population groups, and average citizens displayed their wishes to become part of Europe, Zourabichvili said. In her words, the demonstrators were calm, cultured and mutually respectful, while the parliament showed a different face - "confrontation, squabble and inability to listen to each other."
"I am concerned about what I have heard in parliament. What I've seen is at odds with what society has demonstrated. Everything we could present in a bad light we did in parliament today. And the prime minister's speech was an in addition to that," Zourabichvili said.
She described the prime minister's speech as a negative message for Brussels.
"When you are expecting our partners to make such an important decision, there are at least two things you can do - firstly, listen to the voice of your people, which is required of any authorities, and, secondly, listen to what your partner, the assembly that will make a decision the day after tomorrow, is expecting of you. They were expecting one simple example, an expression of political will, an indicator that we had read the recommendations and would analyze them [...], that we were ready to act together, not in a polarized, confrontational way, but together, so that we could accomplish everything recommended for us by the year's end," Zourabichvili said.
The Georgian Prime Minister said on Wednesday he regretted the European Commission's refusal to recommend that Georgia be given EU candidate status and said that Tbilisi was waiting for the final decision of the European Union to be made this week.
"I should also say that our opposition, including people in this hall, kept visiting Brussels and persuading European parliamentarians that Georgia was unworthy of EU candidate status," Garibashvili said.
He accused both the radical Georgian opposition and certain members of the Ukrainian government of taking destructive actions against Georgia in European capitals and in Washington.
The Prime Minister's speech was twice interrupted by deputies from the opposition United National Movement faction, who protested against the Prime Minister's statement that the European Commission made a "historic" decision on June 17 by recommending that the European Union open a "European perspective" for Georgia.