Georgian parliament sends bill on deoligarchization to Venice Commission

Draft law on deoligarchization

The Parliament of Georgia has submitted a bill on deoligarchization to the Venice Commission and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights for a joint legal opinion.

The bill has already been adopted by the Georgian parliament in two readings.

EU Ambassador to Georgia Pavel Gerchinsky said on November 25 that before the Georgian parliament finally passes the law on deoligarchization, the document must be sent to the Venice Commission in order to take into account the recommendations of its experts.

German Ambassador to Georgia Peter Fischer also recommended sending the law to the Venice Commission. The ruling Georgian Dream party did not consider it necessary to send the law there and stated that “the law on deoligarchization is similar to the Ukrainian and fully corresponds to Georgian reality.”

• Who is an oligarch exactly?
• The government, not the parliament, will decide who an oligarch is

On November 16 the Parliament of Georgia adopted the bill “On Deoligarchization” in the second reading by 76 votes to 6. “Deoligarchization” is one of the conditions of the twelve recommendations that Georgia must fulfill in order to obtain the status of an EU candidate.

The opposition does not support the version of the law initiated by Georgian Dream, according to which Bidzina Ivanishvili is not supposed to be included in the list of oligarchs and businessmen associated with the opposition will be included in the list instead.

Thus it is likely that instead of real de-oligarchization, the new law will strengthen Ivanishvili’s informal rule and become a tool for fighting the opposition.

The draft law “On Deoligarchization” prepared by Georgian Dream is similar to the Ukrainian law of the same content. Under Ukrainian law, an oligarch is a person who meets at least three of the four criteria listed below:

• participates in political life;
• influences the media;
• is the ultimate beneficiary of a legal entity that occupies a dominant position in the market and maintains or improves this position within one year;
• owns a million times more money than the cost of living [In Georgia, the cost of living is 250 lari (about $92), thus 250 million lari (about $92.7 million)].

Draft law on deoligarchization