The political consultations on the draft law on General Courts are over. The draft on changes shall be submitted to the Parliament at 18h00 today – this is the statement by the Speaker of the Parliament, David Usupashvili, made at the briefing in Public Service Hall. According to him, the relevant changes shall be reflected in the Rules of Procedure and it is not excepted that the draft law, adopted with the second reading, will be raised back with the second reading, in order to properly reflect all issues in the law. 

As he elucidated, the majority shared the recommendations by the Venice Commission and will elect 6 members of the Supreme Council of Justice with 2/3 of votes.
“Though, according to the recommendations, in the event of excessive vacant positions in the Council, selection shall be held with simple majority – 76 votes. We go even further and establish limitation that at least 2 of 6 members shall be elected with 2/3 of votes”, - he stated.
According to him, on the basis of the new model, authority of 6 of 15 members shall be ceased, 4 of which are appointed by the Parliament and 2 by the President. As the Speaker elucidated, the Chair of the Supreme Court and one member from the rest 9 members, meeting the requirements of the new legislation, shall maintain the positions.
“Our motivation is to appoint them solely with nomination by the Chair of the Supreme Court and with open ballot. Now we establish the secret ballot and the judges will be entitled to nominate the candidates. The authority of high officials and the persons, assigned by the temporary administrative committee shall be ceased. We observe the agreement, achieved by Kote Kublashvili and this part will be submitted to the plenary session unaltered. It is in full compliance with the conclusion by the international experts and the common sense, in order to liberate the court from interference”, - he noted.
As he stated, this is not the model, communicated with minority and they have different opinion, though political consultations are over.
“Our task is to liberate the judiciary. Our proposals are based on the package, elaborated by NGOs. Unfortunately, the preceding Government had no will to solve the situation and thus everyone hails the steps, which liberate judiciary from political and administrative pressure. It is important for us to bring these proposals in compliance with the Venice Commission opinion. We have achieved the agreement with the Chair of the Court”, - he noted.
According to him, this position by the majority is communicated with the Prime Minister. He did not specify the position though he noted that the National Movement were asking to review the edition, on which the agreement is achieved with the Chair of the Supreme Court and the Court members. This issue will be considered at the plenary session next week.