Zourabichvili: CoE does not have the mandate to appoint a commission with an unrecognised government

After meeting with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, and his delegation, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili stated at a press briefing that the delegation is ‘a little confused’.

‘They don’t understand the situation here very well, and I explained to them that you can’t come to this country when you represent the oldest European organisation that is directly responsible for only one thing: protecting democratic principles and human rights, human freedom’, she said.

‘This organisation has one responsibility and duty, to speak out when what is happening in Georgia happens in one of its member countries [...] To protest this, to condemn this, is probably the first duty of such an organisation’.

‘They have neither the mandate, nor the duty, nor the right, to appoint a commission with a government that is not yet recognised by anyone, especially to discuss — what? The Russian [foreign agent] law! Who cares whether the Russian law is changed or not?!’ she added.