Zsolt Németh, Head of the Hungarian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said on Wednesday that last October's parliamentary election in Georgia was in line with democratic norms, adding that the European Conservatives, Patriots and Affiliates group of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) considered it important to approve the CoE mandate of the new Georgian parliament.
Németh, who addressed the winter session of PACE as the head of the ECPA group in Strasbourg, told MTI by phone that the assembly had questioned the ratification of the credentials of the new Georgian parliament’s CoE delegation.
"We, the European Conservatives, Patriots and Affiliates group, strongly support granting the Georgian parliamentary delegation its mandate without restrictions because we believe that the Georgian elections were in line with the expected democratic norms," Németh said.
He said the group was concerned over the escalation of the violence seen in Georgia and the domestic political crisis that has engulfed the country since the elections.
Németh added that after Azerbaijan’s announcement last February that it could withdraw from the CoE over what it saw as "hostile behavior" on the part of the Strasbourg-based organization, the Council now risked losing another Caucasus country.
"It’s important to maintain dialogue and the most appropriate way to do that is to ensure the full participation of Georgia’s MPs in the Council of Europe," he said.
Németh said the PACE ratified the Georgian delegation’s credentials with 113 votes in favor, 13 against and 7 abstentions with the restriction that Georgian MPs will not be given seats on certain committees, will not be allowed to take part in election observer missions, will not be given rapporteur roles or be allowed to represent the assembly.
He added that though the ECPA group had considered it important to reach a compromise on approving the delegation’s credentials, it had not voted in favour of it due to the restrictions attached to it.