Ruling party says it will send deoligarchisation bill to Venice Commission

The ruling Georgian Dream party on Monday said it would send the controversial deoligarchisation bill to the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission for recommendations, amid the opposition’s demand the bill to include specific names. 

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the GD MP said the party had “no obligation” to take the step, and stressed his team had considered the calls of the EU representation to Georgia and other officials from the bloc as the bill is part of the country’s work for the EU membership candidate status. 

The EU representation to Georgia has welcomed the decision and said it was “important to consult international standard setters and implement their recommendations”. 

The bill has already been adopted with two readings, with only one reading still ahead for the final approval. 

The  domestic opposition says that the bill “must include” Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the ruling party as an “oligarch”, as a “shadow ruler” of the country and claims that the ruling party would use the bill against wealthy supporters of the opposition. 

The authors of the bill from the ruling party, however, say that it is “very undemocratic” to include concrete names and state that the draft law sets criteria for labeling someone as an oligarch.