PM Postpones Annual Report to Parliament

Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze’s annual report to the Parliament, which was scheduled for June 28, has been postponed, Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze told MPs, quoting impossibility of holding constructive discussions over government amid the protest rallies in the capital, as well as the political standoff in the Parliament after the legislature lifted immunity from MP Nika Melia of the United National Movement at its June 26 session.

He added, “we would like the opposition to take part in the discussion in a calm and working atmosphere,” saying the new date of Bakhtadze’s address will be set through consultations between the Prime Minister and the Parliament.

The decision sparked the new bout of mutual accusations between the ruling party and the opposition.

MP Mamuka Mdinaradze, chairman of the Georgian Dream faction, accused the opposition of “destructive actions” and “attempts to fuel tensions.” He said that MPs will discuss the Prime Minister’s report when it will be possible to hold the process “calmly, rationally” through the involvement of the opposition.

Lawmakers from the opposition United National Movement and European Georgia parties strongly criticized the ruling party.

“Today, Georgian society saw the Prime Minister that hid from them,” Davit Bakradze of European Georgia said, noting that it is “a direct acknowledgment” that the Prime Minister and the government have no answer to the main demands that took thousands of people to streets, to “punish the guilty [policemen] and submit the Interior Minister’s resignation”.

MP Roman Gotsiridze, UNM, said that “the Prime Minister did not dare to come”, because “he would not be able to respond to the grave questions the people are asking.”

Later on June 27, the Prime Minister released a statement, noting that in this situation, speaking about the fulfillment of the government plan “would be incompatible with public expectations.” He also noted that he would meet the media in the evening to discuss current affairs.

Under the Parliament’s new rules of procedure, the Prime Minister has to present an annual report on implementation of the government program during the last month of plenary sittings of the Spring Session, in June.

However, since the Parliament’s spring session closes last Friday of June that is tomorrow, the Parliament will have to hear the Prime Minister’s report through violation of the terms set by its rules of procedure.

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