CoE Ministerial to be Held in Strasbourg, Not Tbilisi

The meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe will be held in Strasbourg instead of Tbilisi, Georgian Foreign Minister Davit Zalkaliani announced at a special briefing on Wednesday. He said the decision was made at the meeting of the Deputy Ministers of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

“At the meeting of the Committee of Ministers in Strasbourg, a decision was made to move the Council of Europe's Ministerial to Strasbourg. In November 2019, when we took over the Chairmanship of CoE from France, we expressed our desire for the Ministerial to be held in Georgia and to be hosted by Tbilisi; an important high-level event that would be truly unprecedented in the history of independent Georgia. We, we have done everything since November 2019 to consult with our partners, as well as with the General Secretariat of the Council of Europe and the Secretary General, in order to avoid damaging our reputation as Chair of this organization and act in accordance with its Charter. We have an obligation to hold a ministerial meeting in accordance with the rules of this organization. At the same time, we had to respect our legislation,” he said.

Zalkaliani added that if the ministerial had been held in Tbilisi, Georgia would have had the responsibility to ensure the participation of all countries in the event.

“Our legislation and the participation of the Russian Federation was an issue, though we were obliged to ensure the participation of all members in this event. We held numerous consultations to discuss all possible scenarios, using all resources. When I met with the Secretary General in Geneva, we talked about this issue and they absolutely understand why this ministerial needs to be held in Strasbourg and there is a precedent for President countries to hold the ministerial in Strasbourg,” the Georgian FM concluded.

As the President of the Council of Europe, Georgia was to host the 130th session of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers in May, however, uncertainty was raised over the possible participation of the Russian delegation in the event, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who has repeatedly violated the Law on Georgia's Occupied Territories. Part of the Georgian public protested against the possible arrival of the Russian delegation in Tbilisi, which raised the need to hold the meeting in Strasbourg.

By Ana Dumbadze