Georgia Wants to Expel CoE Envoy

Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze jointed President Saakashvili stance over the Council of Europe (CoE) Secretary General Walter Schwimmer and also criticized him for ?inadequate and incorrect assessment of situation in Adjara.?

On May 9 Georgian President criticized Secretary General of the Council of Europe Walter Schwimmer for his statements regarding Adjara and called him ?an impudent and well-paid bureaucrat.?

The statement made by Walter Schwimmer on May 2, following the explosions of three key bridges linking Adjara with the rest of Georgia by ex-Adjarian leader Aslan Abashidze, triggered Georgian leadership?s protest.

Walther Schwimmer said, ?it is shocking to hear, that in ? Georgia bridges are exploded because the central and the local [Adjarian] authorities have lost their ability to dialogue.?

Speaking in Batumi University on May 9 Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili slammed Walter Schwimmer and said his statement ?was not a statement of a true European; it was a statement of impudent and well-paid bureaucrat.?

“He [Walter Schwimmer] said that both sides [central authorities and Abashidze?s regime] have lost their ability to dialogue as if both sides were equally responsible for what was happening,? Mikheil Saakashvili added.

Saakashvili also said that Georgian Foreign Ministry has requested CoE that Georgia wants to expel the CoE Secretary General?s Representative Plamen Nikolov in Georgia from the country.

Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Foreign Relations Kote Gabashvili confirmed that Georgia seeks to expel CoE?s Secretary General?s Representative Plamen Nikolov, for ?providing inadequate information to the CoE?s head office.?

The CoE?s office in Tbilisi made no official comment regarding the Georgian leadership?s statement.

Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze said that Georgia has ?a special? relation with the CoE.

?This organization always supported Georgia in times of trouble and we were expecting similar support during the Adjara crisis, which did not happen. This caused President Saakashvili?s harsh criticism,? she added.