News 2020

Back President Knape reaffirms the support of the Congress to Georgia’s reforms on decentralisation

From left to right: Congress President Anders Knape, the Governor of Shida Kartli, Giorgi Khojevanishvili, and Congress Secretary General Andreas Kiefer exchange with locals during a field visit of the Shida Kartli region

During his official visit to Georgia from 22 to 25 February 2020 the President of the Congress Anders Knape welcomed the continued commitment of Georgia to decentralisation, in line with the post-monitoring dialogue in 2014, the signature of the road map of the Congress in 2015 and the latest Congress recommendation of November 2018.

He welcomed in particular the recent adoption of the decentralisation strategy by the Georgian government in line with the Congress’ recommendations following the monitoring visit of 2018. The President said the strategy would lay the ground for quality local democracy in the country. “The Congress will continue to provide its support to the Georgian authorities at all stages of the implementation of the strategy, including through its co-operation programmes, which promote, among others, exchanges of best practices, capacity building in the field and dialogue between local and national authorities” he underlined.

He also congratulated the authorities on the ratification of the Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government on the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority, on 27 November 2019 – which was also a Congress recommendation.

The official visit was organised with the support of the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia (NALAG) and its Vice-President Tamar Taliashvili, Vice-President of the Congress and vice-chair of the Georgian delegation. On 24 February the President held a series of meetings with representatives of the central and the local authorities in particular with Maya Tskitishvili, Vice-Premier and Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure, Lasha Dearsalia, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kakhaber Kuchava, Deputy Chairman of the Parliament as well as Kakha Kaladze, Mayor of Tbilisi, Irakli Kobakhidze, Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and member of the Parliament of Georgia, Nino Lomjaria, Public Defender and members of the Georgian delegation to the Congress. These meetings provided an overview on the situation of reforms and local and regional authorities in the country. They discussed more precisely the implementation by the Georgian local authorities of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations Agenda 2030 as well as the goals set up in the decentralisation strategy such as increasing the role of self-governments in managing a substantial share of public affairs, ensuring adequate material and financial resources for local self-governments, introducing high standards of transparency and accountability and facilitate and promote inter-municipal co-operation.

The same day he attended the signature ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding on Promotion of the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe Programme between the Georgian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport and NALAG where he reiterated the support of the Congress to all initiatives by central authorities which take into account the contribution of local authorities.

On 23 February the President visited the Administrative border line with South Ossetia near the city of Gori in the presence of Giorgi Khojevanishvili, Governor of the Shida Kartli Region and the Mayor of Gori Municipality Konstantine Tavzarashvili, among others. He had an exchange with local people about the difficulties they face in their everyday live due to the political and security situation in the region.

On 22 February, Mr Knape paid a visit to the National Museum in Tbilisi and its section on the Soviet occupation of Georgia. There he held an exchange with a group of young students representing each region of Georgia. The President explained the Congress’ work and missions and ensured that the Congress will continue to support Georgia in its reforms. He also acknowledged the difficult situation in the occupied regions and recalled the principle of inviolability of the territorial integrity within the internationally recognised borders of the country. “Every time the territorial integrity of a member State is violated, it is the fundamental values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, those values defended by the Council of Europe, which are in danger” he said.