'President violating constitution' - Zurabishvili faces impeachment over her visits to Europe

Impeachment of the Georgian president for visits to Europe

On 31 August, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili met with her German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Germany. Photos were circulated by the presidential administration. The ruling party said Zurabishvili was “grossly violating the constitution” because the president was not authorised to meet with European leaders and now faces impeachment.

The presidential administration said that Zurabishvili intends to hold a series of meetings with European leaders to lobby them to support granting Georgia the status of a candidate country for EU membership.

Ruling party: ‘President hopes for opposition to avoid impeachment’

“We know that Zurabishvili opposes the interests of the country’s European integration. And it does not matter whether she makes statements against European integration in the Georgian parliament or during a foreign visit. Our international partners will receive this information in any case,” Irakli Kobakhidze, chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party, said.

“The president is “grossly violating the constitution” in the hope of avoiding responsibility “with the support of the collective national movement.” Of course, we cannot leave this without a reaction.”

According to Kobakhidze, 100 votes in parliament are needed for impeachment.

“Salome Zurabishvili and the National Movement have common patrons and she received guarantees from them. Otherwise, she would not have taken such a risk and violated the constitution.

The society has more or less already realized who we mean. This is the party of global war,” Kobakhidze said.

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On 30 August, the Georgian presidential administration issued a statement saying that President Salome Zurabishvili was starting meetings with European leaders in support of granting Georgia the status of a candidate country for EU accession.

The next day, 31 August, the Georgian government announced that it had not given the President permission to visit Germany. She has also been denied official visits and meetings in Ukraine, Switzerland, Poland, Belgium, Denmark, the United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Israel.

“We remind the president that in accordance with subparagraph “a” of paragraph 1 of article 52 of the Georgian constitution, the president of Georgia exercises representative powers in foreign relations only with the consent of the government, since according to paragraph 1 of article 54 of the constitution, the implementation of the country’s foreign policy is the responsibility of the government.”

Impeachment of the Georgian president for visits to Europe