Georgia, CoE Conflict “Over”

Council of Europe to Remind Georgia of its Commitments in July

Schwimmer’s (left) representative in Georgia Plamen Nikolov (right) remains in Tbilisi.

Georgia says its conflict with the Council of Europe (CoE) is over; however, Tbilisi made it clear that it will not vote for the Council’s current Secretary Genera, Walter Schwimmer, in the upcoming elections of the new chief of the 45-member European organization.

Speaking from Strasbourg, in a live broadcast on Tbilisi-based Mze television, Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze said that the “incident” with the Secretary General of the CoE Walter Schwimmer “is over.”

Nino Burjanadze is visiting Strasbourg to participate in the summit of the parliamentary chairpersons from the CoE member states on May 17-19. She met with Walter Schwimmer on May 17th.

“As you know, the Georgian Foreign Minister [Salome Zurabishvili] met Mr. Schwimmer, I’ve held phone talks with him, as well as met with him today [on May 17] and after these contacts I do think it will be right to discuss the issue once again,” Nino Burjanadze said on May 17th. “The incident with Mr. Schwimmer is over,” she added.

President Mikheil Saakashvili has slammed the CoE Secretary General for his May 2nd statement, which put the blame for the escalation of events in Adjara on both Tbilisi and Batumi.

As Aslan Abashidze, ex-leader of Adjara, fled Georgia, Tbilisi officially indicated that it wants Mr. Plamen Nikolov, special representative from the Council of Europe’s (CoE) Secretary General Walter Schwimmer, out of Georgia.

However, after the talks between Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili and Walter Schwimmer in Strasbourg on May 12th, the issue of expulsion of Plamen Nikolov was not put on the agenda by Georgia any more. Walter Schwimmer, while visiting Russia, told the Moscow-based radio station Echo Moskvi that his representative in Georgia, Plamen Nikolov is in Tbilisi and continues to perform his duties.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, while visiting Romania on May 15th, hinted that Georgia is not going to vote for Mr. Schwimmer in the forthcoming elections of CoE’s new Secretary General.

“Europe itself will make a response to Mr. Schwimmer’s statements concerning Adjara in June, when the elections of the Council of Europe Secretary General are held,” Saakashvili told reporters on May 15th.

Walter Schwimmer, from Austria, was elected to a five year term in 1999 as Secretary General of the CoE by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), in a secret ballot involving three candidates. In the forthcoming elections, scheduled for June, Walter Schwimmer will run against Terry Davis of the United Kingdom.
 
Georgia openly declares that it will support Terry Davis in the elections. Georgian officials say that the recommendations by Terry Davis significantly helped Georgia to join the CoE in 1999.
 
“We have tense relations with the Secretary General, and not with the Council of Europe itself. During the elections that are scheduled in a month, Georgia will definitely support Terry Davis. Schwimmer has little chance to retain his post,” MP Elene Tevdoradze, member of the Georgian parliamentary delegation in the PACE, told Civil Georgia.

Meanwhile, the CoE will resume monitoring missions in Georgia starting in July, which aim towards observing how the Georgian government follows through with its commitments undertaken while joining the organization.

MP Elene Tevdoradze says that presently Georgia has to meet over 33 commitments, including the creation of the legislative base for the two-chamber Parliament, definition of the status of the Autonomies Republics (the draft law over distribution of powers between the Adjarian Autonomous Republic and Georgia’s central government has already been submitted to the Parliament for discussion), launching the process of  repatriation of deported Meskhetians, electivity of local authorities and reformation of law enforcement agencies.
 
Elene Tevdoradze told Civil Georgia that, due to the political turmoil last November in Georgia, the Council of Europe “declared a short-term moratorium on fulfillment of commitments at the Parliamentary Assembly session in January 2004.”
 
The Council of Europe Monitoring Group, led by Matyas Eorsi, will arrive in Georgia in July to hold talks with the Georgian government over fulfillment of commitments and their terms.
 
“I think a new timetable for fulfillment of our commitments will be elaborated on during the visit,” MP Elene Tevdoradze said.
 
She also said that repatriation of deported Meskhetians is the most painful issue for the Georgian side. “We will seek for new terms of fulfillment of this commitment,” Tevdoradze added.
 
In 1999, Georgia undertook commitments to adopt, within two years after its accession to the CoE, a legal framework permitting repatriation of Meskhetians, who were deported from Georgia under orders from the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1944. The process of repatriation of the Meskhetian population should be completed within twelve years after Georgia’s accession, according to the commitment.

Georgia has financial liability towards the CoE as well. Georgia’s debt to the organization amounts to 1,2 million Euros, accumulated through non-payment of membership fee. “Along with other post-Soviet countries, Georgia also has a debt to the organization,” MP Elene Tevdoradze says.