Thursday, June 6 2013

Tbilisi. A group of seven European Parliament
members visited Georgia on June 3-4 to, as they put it, see the situation in
the country more than seven months after peaceful transfer of power and ahead
of the October, 2013 presidential elections - Civil Georgia electronic media
outlet reported late on June 4.

According to the media outlet, the
delegation of foreign affairs committee was made up of representatives from the
major political groups within the European Parliament including Czech MEP Libor
Roucek and Slovak MEP Boris Zala both from the group of Progressive Alliance of
Socialists and Democrats (S&D); Polish MEPs Krzysztof Lisek and Jan
Kozlowski both from the group of European People's Party (EPP); MEP Ryszard Czarnecki
of Poland from the European Conservatives and Reformists group (ECR); Belgian
MEP Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck from the group of the Alliance of Liberals and
Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and Austrian MEP Ulrike Lunacek from the group of
Greens/European Free Alliance.

During the two-day visit the delegation
met President Saakashvili; PM Ivanishvili; Parliament Speaker Davit
Usupashvili; Interior Minister Irakli Gharibashvili; Justice Minister Tea
Tsulukiani; Minister in charge of penitentiary system Sozar Subari; Public
Defender Ucha Nanuashvili, United National Movement (UNM) parliamentary
minority group leadership, as well as representatives of civil society and
media.

As the European Parliament Member (MEP)
from the Socialists&Democrats group, Libor Roucek stated at the news
conference summarizing the visit, during the meetings in Tbilisi all sides
"expressed strong will for the European integration."

"There is a strong consensus on this
issue," he said and added that there was a real chance that Georgia would
be able to initiate the Association Agreement with the EU, including the Deep
and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, at the Eastern Partnership's Vilnius
summit, in November 2013.

"There is a strong chance that
Georgia will succeed and no matter which political group in the European
Parliament we represent, we fully support this effort," MEP Roucek said.

As far as the co-habitation is concerned,
Roucek said too much tension could be observed in some occasions between the
ruling Georgian Dream coalition and the pro-presidential former ruling party -
United National Movement (UNM).

In his words, the key message to all the
parties was the need for more dialogue, cooperation and consensus on major
issues for Georgia.

"We appealed to our colleagues both
from the government and the opposition to sometimes cool down rhetoric and cool
down temperature," MEP Roucek said.

The recent clashes during the LGBT
(lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community) support rally in Tbilisi
were also discussed at the MEPs' meeting in Tbilisi.

According to the Civil Georgia, MEP
Lunacek from the group of Greens/European Free Alliance said "all of us
were really appalled" by that violence; she welcomed that both the UNM and
GD condemned the violence. She expressed concern over "raise of hate
speech" against LBGT, as well as against other minority groups. She
welcomed the authorities' plan to draft antidiscrimination law.

Speaking about the recent installation of
illegal barbed wire fences by the Russian border guards in the vicinity of
Georgian villages in Georgia's breakaway Tskhinvali region, MEP Roucek said the
delegation condemned the so-called 'borderisation' process and reiterated the
EP's support to the territorial integrity of Georgia.

According to the Georgian Foreign
Minister, Russian border guards installed barbed wire fences near Ditsi
village, Gori district and Dvani village, Kareli district, bordering Tskhinvali
region (breakaway region of Georgia). 
Earlier, the ministry said that barbed wire had been drawn in Didi
Khurvaleti, Gugutiantkari, Kvemo Nikozi, Tamarasheni, Dvani and Atotsi
villages, which did not allow the population to carry out agricultural works.
As official Tbilisi reported, shifting of separation line on certain sections
deep into the territory of Georgia had been also observed.