Georgian parliament asked EU to remove term ‘South Ossetia’ from use

The Permanent Rapporteur of the European Parliament on Georgia, Sven Mikser, visited the Georgian capital on a working visit. He met with the country's President Salome Zourabichvili and Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, as well as with representatives of opposition parties.

“I am happy to say that the European Parliament, as well as the European institutions and EU member states stand by Georgia when it comes to supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia. Also, the right of Georgia to choose a path, decide its aspirations and applications in relation to international organisations. This is a fundamental principle in the Euro-Atlantic community. There is a very strong agreed position that Russia or any other country should not bring back the concept of spheres of privileged interests and influence,” Mikser said during a joint meeting of the committees on European integration and foreign affairs.

According to Mikser, this means that a third country should not have the right to veto the aspirations of candidate countries in the Euro-Atlantic community.

“Georgia is one of the examples when political antagonism and political polarisation periodically cover the entire political discourse and process. The European Union offered assistance to Georgia when it was needed. Of course, it is up to the Georgian people to solve the problems facing the country. The European Union is ready to assist in facilitating the process. This is what our delegation in Georgia demonstrated, as well as the agreement reached through the mediation of the President of the European Council,” the MEP said.

As Mikser added, the political class and decision makers "need to really meet people's expectations and not disappoint them."

During the meeting, Nikoloz Samkharadze, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Georgian Parliament, addressed the European Parliament Rapporteur on Georgia with a request to "remove the Stalinist term South Ossetia" from official EU documents.

“I want to address you when we talk about terms, and I always use this opportunity, we, you and the West are fighting against Stalinist manifestations and, on the contrary, we use the term South Ossetia. Or rather, in all documents you use the term South Ossetia, which is also a Stalinist term and was coined in 1922, before this was not the case. Moreover, South Ossetia, such an entity, is not recognised by the Constitution of Georgia. So, my request is a call to discuss together how we can remove this term from your official documents altogether. Moreover, I repeat, this is a Stalinist term, and I think that it is not very pleasant when the European Union, or at least any other of our partner states, uses the name of the Stalin era. So, my humble request is to think about it. If you need some kind of official appeal from us, we will do it,” Samkharadze said.

Responding to this proposal, Sven Mikser assured the Georgian deputies that in the future, when preparing European documents concerning Georgia, the issue of wording of terms would be considered.

“I have considered your concerns about the wording. I find this very important and consistent. We must take this into account when we develop European documents in the future,” Mikser said.

Commenting on the results of the meeting and meetings with the MEP, Badri Japaridze, one of the leaders of the Lelo opposition party, noted that all problematic issues were discussed at the meeting, including a resolution in support of Ukraine.

“At the meeting, we touched on the fact that none of the reforms envisaged by the Charles Michel document has been implemented, we also talked about the resolution that was unilaterally adopted by the Georgian Dream, in this case there was also no attempt by the ruling party to reach a consensus and adopted a resolution that the opposition could not support,” Japaridze said.

De-facto Defence Minister of Tskhinvali/South Ossetia nominated as presidential candidate

A meeting of the initiative group was held in Tskhinvali, which nominated Defence Minister Ibragim Gazseev as a candidate for the de-facto president of South Ossetia.

According to journalists, the meeting was attended by 120 people (at least 100 are needed). All of them voted for the nomination of Gazseev as a candidate for the post of head of the ‘republic.’

“Over the past years, many problems have accumulated in the republic, I regularly meet with our residents and know what worries them. I see that our country needs renewal,” the de-facto head of the Defence Ministry spoke to the audience.

He added that the president can only work effectively if he relies not on the administrative resource, but on the majority of citizens.

Recall that in South Ossetia in 2021, presidential elections are scheduled for April 10. Ten initiative groups and two parties, which intend to nominate their candidates for this post, applied to the CEC. The ruling United Ossetia party, which will consider the nomination of the current head of the republic, Anatoly Bibilov, for the presidency, has also applied.