The Committee discussed and approved the package of legal changes developed in view of the capacity building of the anti-corruption activity aiming at the receipt of the EU candidate status by Georgia.
As the Chair of the Committee, Anri Okhanashvili noted, the changes establish the LEPL Anti-Corruption Bureau with a key function to facilitate countering corruption. The Bureau shall oversee the fulfillment of the anti-corruption policy and the national anti-corruption strategy by coordinating the activity of the respective bodies, organizations and officials. The Bureau shall be accountable to the Parliament and the Inter-Agency Anti-Corruption Council, namely, the Chief of the Bureau shall submit the annual report to the Parliament, and the intermittent reports to the Inter-Agency Anti-Corruption Council.
The candidates for the Chief of the Bureau shall be selected through the open and transparent competition of the Competition Commission composed of the representatives of the state agencies and civil society and shall be nominated to the Prime Minister to shortlist and appoint a certain candidate with the authority of 6 years.
“The European Commission offered to consolidate these functions – improve coordination. We believe that this model ensures the fulfillment of paragraph 4 of the EU recommendations and thus, increases the chances for Georgia to receive the EU candidate status,” he noted.
Deriving that the hereof changes shall be adopted as of December 1 according to the schedule, the Committee approved expedited consideration of the package with the reservation that the changes will be discussed during the November 1-4 plenary session with the I reading and with the II and III readings in the subsequent week
