The Majority Leader, PACE Vice-President, Irakli Kobakhidze met with the President of Venice Commission, Gianni Buquicchio to discuss the close cooperation between the Parliament of Georgia and the Venice Commission and the package of legislative changes to be discussed at the Venice Commission.

"We had a very good discussion with the members of the Georgian Parliament about the cooperation between Georgia and the Venice Commission. This collaboration has been going on for a long time and it started back in the 1990s. What I can say is that Georgia is one of the best partners of the Venice Commission. Your Parliament has repeatedly asked us for recommendations. This time we are working on two documents. The first concerns election-related issues, and we have agreed with the Speaker of the Parliament that we will send this draft recommendation before it is approved by the Venice Commission, which is expected to take place in the second half of February. The other recommendation concerns the law on electronic communications - in this case, we will follow the usual procedure and approve the recommendation on March 19-20. Unfortunately, we are not able to come to Georgia to meet with the Government, representatives of political parties and the civil sector. We will have online discussions with them to obtain a more unblemished picture", - Mr Buquicchio stated after the meeting.

The Head of the Georgian parliamentary Delegation to PACE, Kakha Kuchava, and MP Giorgi Khojevanishvili also attended the meeting with the President of the Venice Commission.

"We tabled the package of legislative changes that is being deliberated in the Venice Commission. We also talked about various legislative initiatives planned regarding the electoral system. It is extremely important for us to cooperate with the Venice Commission and share relevant recommendations. We are waiting for the recommendations provided by the Commission in the near future regarding these issues”, - G. Khojevanishvili remarked.