11 May 2009 - NATO Parliamentarians return from tense Tbilisi

The delegation met with President Saakashvili on 6 May

From 4 to 7 May, the delegation obtained in-depth briefings on a wide variety of issues, including post-war situation in Georgia  , Tbilisi  ’s strategy towards South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgia 's foreign and security policy priorities, the situation in the South Caucasus, NATO-Georgia relations, and the ongoing reform process in the country.

The discussions revealed a strong consensus among host country speakers that Georgia    wants to join NATO and the EU.  Georgians and members of the delegation raised strong concern about the violation of the territorial integrity of Georgia with regards to the occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.  President Saakashvili and other Georgian government officials strongly criticised Russia ’s decision to recognise the two breakaway regions and denounced Moscow ’s decision to build military bases there, which could destabilise the whole geographical zone.  Georgian speakers andAmbassador Haber, Head of the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia   informed the delegation that the EUMM was playing a very important stabilizing role.  Some Georgian speakers underlined the need to continue the reform process, including the need to strengthen the role of parliament.  However, representatives of the opposition criticised the government and the President in particular, over its centralisation of political power.     

The visit of the Sub-Committee, which had been scheduled months ahead, was taking place in a very volatile environment, featuring a standoff between the opposition and the government since 9 April which paralysed the country politically, a clash between the police and the protesters, as well as a mutiny and possible coup attempt at a military base near Tbilisi  .  Chairman Stinner nevertheless underlined that ‘the delegation was not here to judge but to learn and try to understand what is going on in Georgia at the moment’.  He and other members of the delegation expressed the hope that the political stalemate between the government and the opposition could soon be overcome.         

Some meetings took place with the parliamentary and non parliamentary opposition, as well as with independent experts

The visit concluded with briefings at the Vaziani military basis on the Partnership-for-Peace exercise that was about to start in Georgia  .  NATO military commanders who briefed the delegation stressed that the exercise, which had been criticised by Russia  , is nothing more than “routine”. They pointed out that   “it was planned long before last August events took place and it is strictly about peacekeeping and aimed at achieving inter-operability of NATO and non-NATO militaries in future peacekeeping or humanitarian missions”.      

The conclusions of this visit will be reflected in the final version of the PCNP draft report to be presented by Rui Gomes da Silva (Portugal ) at the NATO PA Annual session in Edinburgh next fall.

Meanwhile, the current draft of the report is available here:

http://www.nato-pa.int/Default.asp?SHORTCUT=1776