Public consideration of the Constitutional draft changes, initiated in the Parliament, and the meeting of the Commission in this term, endure with the representatives of various social layers.

One more public consideration was held today, in Tbilisi. The Commission members held three meetings in Tbilisi Marriot Hotel. The meetings were held separately with the journalists, NGOs and political parties, students and professors.

The participants of the consideration were the Parliamentary majority, the representatives of the opposition and the Ministry of Justice.

The essence of the Constitutional changes and the general provisions were introduced by Tamar Chugoshvili and Nino Lomjaria, after which the majority and the minority expressed their positions. According to the changes, the Prime Article 42 shall be withdrawn from the Constitution, which prescribes the location of the Parliament. The change envisages revision of the norms under the Constitution, which enable the President to establish the Government without endorsement by the Parliament. The majority supposes that definition of the location of the Parliament shall not be regulated under the Constitution and it was this way in 1995 until the changes adopted in 2009. The majority stated that the Parliament shall be located in the political hub of the country, and the distance between the Parliament and the Government shall be short inasmuch as it entails impediment in their activity.

According to the minority, moving the Parliament to Kutaisi was made in view of development of the region and taking it back to the Capital will hinder the regional development.

According to the Deputy-Chairman of the Parliament, Zviad Dzidziguri, moving the Parliament to Kutaisi was not linked with the development of the region but it was the step to decline the legislative body.

“Moving Parliament to Kutaisi was the step to decline it, which was the political freak of one person. With this step, activity of the Parliament is hindered and this shortcoming shall be solved. As to economic development of Kutaisi, it requires work by the Government in another direction and investments and projects, which will facilitate development”, - he stated.

The Deputy-Minister of Justice, Alexander Baramidze attended the meeting with the journalists. He stated that the Ministry, in general, agrees with the draft, though he noted that there are additional proposals as well. “We fully agree with the Constitutional draft, introduced by 78 MPs. The Ministry of Justice has its own opinion how to overcome the probable political crisis in the country. Specifically, the President shall not be authorized to dismiss the Government with his initiative. It only shall be implemented in the event, prescribed under the Constitution. The second – if the President dismisses the Government and introduces the new Government to the Parliament three times, which the Parliament declines, as a result of which the President dismisses the Parliament, is not regulated under the Constitution, who will be the acting Government in this event.

Our task is to fill this gap with the Constitutional changes. We propose the dismissed Parliament to continue fulfillment of the duties”, - he stated.

The Commission for public consideration of the Constitutional Changes will continue the meetings in the regions.

The Commission members plan the field visits in Ozurgeti and Batumi on January 23, then in Gori etc.

The organizer of the process is the NDI.