Georgian Parliament Fails To Impeach President Over EU Visits

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili (file photo)

A motion to impeach Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili over her visits to European Union countries failed on October 18 as the ruling Georgian Dream party could not gather enough votes to remove her from office.

At least 100 votes in the 150-member legislature were needed to impeach Zurabishvili, but only 86 lawmakers supported the motion to oust her over her visits to EU countries and talks with EU leaders without government consent, which the country's Constitutional Court said was not allowed under the constitution.

But Zurabishvili said during debate in the parliament on the motion that she "did not violate neither the essence nor the spirit of the constitution."

"With this impeachment process you are insulting not only me, and not me at all, but [European] leaders and pushing the country toward isolation," she said.

The drive to impeach Zurabishvili has been led by the ruling Georgian Dream and its leader, Irakli Kobakhidze.

During the debate on October 18, he accused Zurabishvili of working "against the vital interests of the country" and said that she "does not deserve" to be president.

Kobakhidze had called on Zurabishvili to resign regardless of the result of the vote.

But the president, who has butted heads with the government on several occasions even though her post is seen as largely ceremonial, has refused to step down and called the party's bid to oust her "an attempt to kill Georgia's European future and democracy."

"The country in which the balance between different branches of power no longer exists cannot be called a democracy," she said earlier this week in a televised address.

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The parliamentary debate follows a ruling by Georgia's Constitutional Court that Zurabishvili violated the constitution by traveling to EU countries without government consent.

The decision, announced on October 16, was supported by six out of nine judges who said "that during her working foreign visits on August 31, September 1, and September 6, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili exercised representative powers and authority in the area of international relations without the Georgian government's consent."

Three judges issued a dissenting opinion, saying their colleagues had misinterpreted the constitutional rights of the president.

Georgia's constitution forbids the president from getting involved in the country's foreign relations without the agreement of the government.

Zurabishvili traveled to Paris, Berlin, and Brussels to promote Georgia's European Union candidacy -- the country applied for EU membership in March 2022, but it has not been granted candidate status yet -- and met with leaders of France, Germany, and the 27-member bloc.

Kobakhidze claimed the court ruling was a victory as it showed the president needs government approval to meet foreign leaders visiting Georgia or even to travel to another country for personal reasons.

But Maya Kopaleshvili, a former Constitutional Court judge and lawyer for Zurabishvili in the case, said the president can still meet leaders of foreign countries without the government’s permission if this does not represent or result in a change in the country’s foreign policy.

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The motion for Zurabishvili’s impeachment comes as her popularity rises for her strongly pro-Western and pro-Ukrainian views amid opposition to some of the ruling party’s controversial decisions.

Among them was proposing a controversial “foreign agent” law -- which Zurabishvili said would bring Georgia “closer to the flawed Russian model and not to the European model” -- that sparked protests, forcing the party to back down.

Georgia applied for EU membership shortly after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, along with Ukraine and Moldova. While those two latter countries were awarded candidate status in June 2022, Georgia was instead given an EU “perspective” and a list of reforms it should implement.

In addition to tackling political polarization and other issues, the European Commission has recommended that Georgia address judicial reform as well as increase efforts to fight against corruption and organized crime.

In October, the EU will decide -- based on its perception of the progress Georgia has made on those reforms -- whether to award it candidate status.

With reporting by AFP