The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will hold urgent debates on the situation in Georgia today.

According to the organization’s website, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will also put a resolution to vote.

“PACE insists that the Georgian authorities:

immediately initiate an inclusive process involving all stakeholders and social actors, including the ruling majority, opposition and civil society, to urgently address the deficiencies and shortcomings noted during the recent parliamentary elections and to create an electoral environment that is conducive to new, genuinely democratic, parliamentary elections to be announced during the coming months;

take immediate and effective steps to enable Georgia to resume the European integration process, in line with the European aspirations of the people, and to accelerate with determination the necessary reforms;

put an immediate end to police brutality and human rights abuses, effectively investigate these practices and end the misuse of legal proceedings as a means of deterring or retaliating against protesters, journalists and civic leaders, and fully respect the right to freedom of expression and assembly;

step up co-operation with the Council of Europe and engage in good faith in the process initiated by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe;

address, without delay, the concerns and recommendations of the Assembly expressed in Resolution 2438 (2022) “The honouring of obligations and commitments by Georgia” and Resolution 2561 (2024) “Challenges to democracy in Georgia”, including the recommendation to repeal the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence and the concerns about the Code of Administrative Offences, which should be addressed by taking into account the urgent opinion of the Venice Commission;

release all political prisoners before the 2025 April part-session of the Assembly;

continue to engage fully with the Assembly’s monitoring procedure and work to ensure that monitoring mechanisms function effectively during the pre-election period, thereby ensuring timely warning of any democratic decline”, reads the resolution.

The resolution also states that, subject to progress on the above-mentioned issues, the Assembly will have the opportunity to re-evaluate the mandates of the Georgian delegation (with the possibility of suspending them) at its April 2025 session.