The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is holding urgent debates today on the deepening political crisis in Georgia, aiming to vote in a resolution that urges reforms and a return to democratic norms.
PACE is demanding that the Georgian government take “immediate and effective steps to enable Georgia to resume the European integration process, in line with the European aspirations of the people.” This resolution is a decisive move and is concerned with Georgia’s democratic weakening, exhibited by police brutality, arrests of civic activists, and controversial legislation targeting foreign-funded NGOs.
The Assembly warns that Georgia’s current direction threatens its Council of Europe membership and the privileges that come with it. Consequently, the organization is leaving the door open to suspending the Georgian delegation’s mandate during its April 2025 session, should there be no “progress on the above-mentioned issues.”
The Assembly’s primary demand is for an inclusive process to be launched to prepare for “new, genuinely democratic, parliamentary elections to be announced during the coming months, with the resolution also urging “an immediate end to police brutality and human rights abuses,” the release of all political prisoners, and “full respect for the right to freedom of expression and assembly.”
PACE reinforced earlier recommendations to repeal the so-called ‘foreign agents law’, reform the Administrative Code, and work in accordance with the Venice Commission’s opinions. Georgia is expected to respond to resolution’s demands before the upcoming April session of PACE.
