Following the approval of the Plenary Agenda, the floor was given to MPs for the political statements.

Giorgi Khelashvili, First Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, expanded on the hearing of the issue of Georgia in the Subcommittee on Europe of the US Senate – “On March 23, the Subcommittee of the Senate held a hearing on Georgia entitled "For the Strengthening of Democracy in Georgia" chaired by Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a longtime friend and supporter of Georgia. Significant statements were made at the hearing by both senators and U.S. State Department officials George Kent and Cara McDonald. Most of the statements were about supporting Georgia's political path and reforms. As was noted, Georgia is an example for many countries and has the bipartisan support of Congress. It was also underlined that in recent years Georgia has been steadfastly following the path of Western integration, which is associated with the name of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the Georgian Dream”.

According to him, Georgian democracy has been strengthened and deepened even amid the Russian aggression - "It was important that from the rostrum of the Congress the speakers emphasized the occupation of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region, ethnic cleansing and the support of the United States. It was also clarified that Russia is using cybernetic and disinformation methods against Georgia, as well as economic pressure”.

According to G. Khelashvili, the hearing quoted the OSCE/ODIHR EOM as saying that the October 2020 parliamentary elections in Georgia were competitive and efficient - "At the same time, the need for electoral reform was stressed, the draft of which has already been discussed in the Parliament. The importance of lowering the election threshold by the Georgian Dream government, which should become the basis of a multi-party political system in Georgia, was underlined”.

According to him, in addition to these general statements of support, there were also clear political messages - "An important message concerned the need for a full parliament, because the absence of the opposition in the legislature stands for a victory for Russia. It was especially emphasized that the population of Georgia is in favor of the opposition entering the parliament, despite the fact that the opposition has chosen the path of boycott”.

G. Khelashvili noted that Georgia's preparation for an official application for EU membership by 2024 is taken seriously by the United States.

Alexander Elisashvili expressed hope that the lengthy negotiation process between the opposition and the government would end in some kind of agreement - "Today will reveal who loves the country, who can withdraw his personal and party interests and put forward the interests of the country and the nation. I hope that political debates will start in the parliament and beyond, on real issues, real problems”.

A. Elisashvili touched upon the pensions and the bank interest rate: "We all know that Liberty Bank is just robbing pensioners and there is a staggering injustice in front of us. If a businessman goes to the same bank, he can take a loan at 10% for his business, and if a retiree takes out a loan, the interest rate reaches 36%. According to the Department of Statistics, 50% of pensioners have withdrawn the pension of several months in advance, and today, even the last penny is taken away from them by the bank”.

According to A. Elisashvili, they addressed the Chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee, Irakli Kovzanadze, who scheduled a meeting where the representatives of the National Bank, the Social Agency and Liberty Bank will discuss the issue jointly.

Vladimer Chachibaia, Deputy Chairman of the Defense and Security Committee, made a statement on the construction of the Army City in his speech.

According to him, the implementation of the largest project on the 100 thousand square meters of land on Makhata Mountain has launched. Construction began in 2021 and will be completed by the end of next year.

According to the project, 39 7-storey buildings will be built on Makhata Mountain, in which 1092 apartments will be located. The military will be able to purchase housing on unprecedented preferential terms.

"The project also envisages the arrangement of children's entertainment spaces, indoor roads, recreational and parking zones”, - V. Chachibaia noted.

Levan Ioseliani, Vice-Speaker of the Parliament, responded to the initiation of the constitutional amendments, saying that it was important to hold the 2024 parliamentary elections with a 3% or even lower threshold - "I would really like my colleagues from the opposition outside the parliament to understand what I have been saying all this time. I hope there will be 17 patriotic people who will put aside the personal interests and join us to put an end to bipartisan hatred and bipartisanship in this country once and for all”.

L. Ioseliani focused on another urgent issue, which is the queues with the service agencies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - "If there is a danger of spreading the virus, this is the place where our citizens spend the day and night trying to change car numbers on time”.

According to the Chairman of the Legal Issues Committee, Anri Okhanashvili, the rules for electing the Supreme Court judges will be in line with the recommendations of the Venice Commission.

According to him, the Georgian Dream team has been consistently implementing judicial system reforms since 2019, and the progress in the judiciary is impressive - "We received recommendations from the Venice Commission to further refine this process, and as a result, based on these recommendations, we decided to initiate a bill that would further clarify some issues of the important reform we started in 2019”.

A. Okhanashvili dwelt upon the key issues raised in the draft and said that “with the changes we have proposed and adopted, the recommendations of the Venice Commission will finally be fully implemented. This is welcomed by the non-governmental sector and these changes provide even more transparency”.

Vladimer Kakhadze, First Deputy Chairman of the Healthcare and Social Issues Committee, drew attention to the situation in the country – “We went through one wave of the pandemic with more or less intensity, the other wave was very strong for us. There was a threat to the sustainability of the system, but the system withstood and responded appropriately to this challenge. The world was talking about the third wave today. Unfortunately, the responsibility of the population has decreased. We know from the peculiarities of the virus that it expects each of us to relax, to believe ahead of time that we can overcome this problem. The summer season is coming and the number 673, which was announced today, is a sign of increase that requires attention from us”.

Maka Botchorishvili, Chairperson of the EU Integration Committee, responded to the 4th anniversary of the introduction of the visa-free regime for Georgian citizens in the Schengen area - "This achievement was preceded by numerous and complex reforms implemented by the Georgian government on the basis of an action plan provided by the European Union in 2013. The road to visa-free travel for our citizens to the EU goes through the daily struggle of our government for better security of the country, public order and human rights. Over the past four years, more than half a million Georgian citizens have enjoyed visa-free travel and more than a million visits have been made to EU/Schengen countries. Visa-free travel is an opportunity to promote tourism, strengthen business ties, exchange students, strengthen trade unions. All this creates a solid basis for deepening people-to-people relations, which is one of the most important elements for EU integration”, - M. Botchorishvili stated believing that the path of reforms and transformation carried out by Georgia to the goal, such as visa-free travel, shows that our country has been able and will continue to be able to achieve the set goals.

MP Anton Obolashvili spoke about the deceased nurse, Megi Bakradze, who was on the front line of the fight with COVID-19 and called on everyone to get vaccinated.

The MP on behalf of his colleagues once again expressed his sorrow over the incident and hoped the investigation would be timely, transparent and comprehensive.

MP Kakha Kakhishvili has initiated the set-up of a council of deputy ministers in the executive branch, where single mandate MPs will be able to raise important issues for the population once or twice a week.

In his speech, K. Kakhishvili spoke about the bias of the media and the misinformation spread by various media agencies, which, in his opinion, is the result of unprofessionalism and believes that Georgian law should determine who is a journalist and what education is required to be called a journalist.

MP Irakli Zarkua touched on the increased reported cases of COVID-19 – “This jump-like increase indicates an alarming fact. This country will not be able to withstand the third wave, neither the society, nor the economy. Therefore, we should protect ourselves as much as possible, be it personal or other means, which is recommended by the Ministry of Health”, - I. Zarkua stated and echoed to the statement of his colleague from the opposition - "I have been working with my colleagues on the issue of pensioners for more than two months. We requested the relevant documents from the National Bank, we met with the representatives of the National Bank, we also requested an agreement regulating the pensioners' interest system, we had a meeting with the management of the Social Agency, so this process is underway. I am glad that our opposition colleagues are also involved in this and we will work together to have a system that is more accessible to the retirees”.

After the statements, the Parliament resumed with the agenda.

Irakli Kadagishvili, Chairman of the Rules and Procedural Issues, presented the issue of termination of MP’s credentials of Tea Tsulukiani.

Vladimer Kakhadze introduced the Bill on General Education with III reading.

The draft law envisages the operation of medical facilities in general education institutions. According to the speaker, this is the most important decision for the health of the students.

Mikheil Sarjveladze, Chairman of the Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee, introduced the draft laws with III reading: Bill on Civil Procedure Code, Bill on Combating Trafficking in Persons, Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Bill.

MPs deliberated the documents submitted for ratification by the Government: Draft Resolution on the Agreement through Exchange of Letters between Georgia and EPLO on the Status of EPLO Regional Office in the South Caucasus; Draft Resolution on Changes to the GUAM Charter.

The ratification documents were introduced by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Khatuna Totladze.

Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Alexander Darakhvelidze introduced with II reading the Bill on Criminal Code, adding two new offenses to the Criminal Code: tampering with computer data and / or computer systems for financial gain and creating fake official computer data.

The draft law determines the composition and sanctions of these crimes. According to the document, amendments are made to the Criminal Procedure Code and the Law on Combating Trafficking in Persons.

The Bill on Deposits Insurance System clarifies a number of terms, arranges issues related to information on insured deposits, RP operations and special rules for repayment of depositors as a result of mergers of commercial banks. According to Ekaterine Mikabadze, First Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, this is an important system that was launched in Georgia in 2018 and these changes will further expand its role in ensuring depository insurance and financial stability.

MP Shalva Papuashvili introduced with I reading the bill on General Education.

Under the amendment, an article is added to the law that defines the rights and responsibilities of a private school towards a student. Specifically, a private school will be entitled to terminate a student with financial debt from the end of the semester of origin of the financial debt until the beginning of the next semester. In case of not continuing education in another private school, the Ministry shall, in accordance with the rules established by law, provide access to education for a status-deprived student in a public school.

The Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Nikoloz Samkharadze, introduced the Draft Resolution on Determining the Composition of Permanent Parliamentary Delegations.

The aim of the document is to add faction-independent MPs to the standing parliamentary delegations of the Parliament of Georgia and the delegations of the Parliamentary Assemblies, taking into account the decision of the Bureau of the Parliament on the distribution of proportional representation quotas in the standing parliamentary delegations.

After concluding the issue, N. Samkharadze introduced the Committee’s Activity Report for 2020 and Annual Report of the Standing Parliamentary Delegation to the OSCE PA.

At the end of the day, the Parliament took note of the reports and voted and upheld the issues discussed.

The Plenary Session will be resumed tomorrow, March 31, at 12h00.