Eduard Shevardnadze regards vetoing of the Law on Local Self-Governance and Governance unacceptable. President thinks that the Opposition made a mistake, when decided to leave the Hall of Meetings, while the Parliament was going to discuss the version of the law, adjusted according to the Opposition’s demands. The Opposition has been demanding the agreement of the election legislation prior to adoption of the Law on Local-Self Governance and Governance. The Opposition decided to leave the Hall due to the Majority’s refusal to this proposal.
“Use of veto right is absolutely unacceptable. I have made all possible compromises. I think, that Georgia is not ready for complete self-governance at present level. I have agreed to an option, when President should select mayors and governors out from the members of Sakrebulos, which would be elected under the proportional system. I cannot think of any further compromises and there won’t be any. Use of veto is meaningless”, stated Shevardnadze at Monday’ briefing.
President’s position towards the Election Code is strict as well. He is not going to use veto right in this case too. President considers this matter as a prerogative of the Parliament. “Subject of composition of the election commissions must not be decided by President” states Shevardnadze. President considers the Constitutional Court as a way to solve the problem and suggest to the Opposition to appeal to the court.
President’s evaluation of the Law on Elections, adopted by the Parliament, is very interesting. Shevardnadze states, that non-governmental organizations are much more trustworthy than any political party. “None of the parties can be objective when counting the votes in the election commissions”, he says.
Under the new election code, all 7 members of the Central Election Commission would be the representatives of the non-governmental organizations.
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President did not give any new information on the case of murder of journalist Giorgi Sanaia. “I can not tell you anything new about this matter. Political motives of the murder cannot be excluded. However, there are other versions too, which complicates the process of investigation”, stated Shevardnadze on August 6 briefing.
President pledges, that Georgian law enforcing structures are doing everything possible to solve the case and capture the killer and best specialist are being involved in the process. “Even though we do trust our experts, we have decided to invite counterparts from the United States. It is highly desirable to conduct an expertise at the laboratories in the United States”, says President.
President Shevardnadze had postponed his visit to Baku, scheduled for July 27th with a purpose to sign the documents, concerning construction of gas pipeline Baku-Tbilisi-Erzrum, in connection to Sanaia’s murder. However, information has been spread, that President delayed the visit, fearing that it would cause worsening of the situation in the country. On the question, whether President cancelled the visit according to advises of the power ministers, President replied, that he decided to postpone the visit by himself. “Everyone advised me to go to Baku to sign this document of the Century, which is extremely important for Georgia. But my conscious did not let me to leave the country in such condition. Not because the people went to the streets, but because I have personally known Giorgi Sanaia and respected him very much” said Shevardnadze.
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President Shevardnadze tackled the budget issue as well. However, according to his speech, the budget actually does not have any problem. Shevardnadze stated, that starting from April, tax incomes are increasing. July has been the best month in this regard. However, it should be mentioned, that plan for July has been fulfilled only with the grant of EU received in July. The Customs Department had 6 million Laris deficit that month. Nevertheless, President stated, that if this tendencies would be maintained, there would be no need to sequester the budget in September.
President did not concretize the basis of such optimism. It is very doubtful that the Government could cover 60 million deficit of the central budget within remaining 5 months. Furthermore, two trenches of the World Bank would not be received and funds from the privatization of “Telecom” and “Elektrokavshiri” could not be recovered within this year. Therefore, total amount of sequester might reach 205 million Laris.
President states, that even if the budget would be sequestered, this will not affect citizens since the social expenses would stay unchanged. However, the sequester will affect the National Bank because the Government will not repay its debt to the Bank. Experts think, that such policy will cause devaluation of the national currency and this would surely affect citizens.
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Journalist of a Russian TV channel asked Shevardnadze if he is going to run for presidency for the third time (under Georgian Constitution, one person might be elected as a president for only two terms).
Shevardnadze replied, that he hesitates to change the Constitution that often, especially such fundamental provisions, as a term of presidency. “We should respect and follow the Constitution. There are other circumstances that won’t allow me to become a president for the third term as well. Present president of Georgia is not too young”.