Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili was forced to sign amendments to the law 'On the National Bank of Georgia', despite the fact that he still does not agree to the package of laws.
The amendments will deprive the National Bank of supervisory functions. Margvelashvili spoke out against this decision and proposed the Parliament to leave the functions of financial supervision to the chief financial regulator, which should contribute to its strengthening.
However, the Georgian parliament did not listen to the president and overrode his veto on September 3.
The opposition deputies representing the United National Movement and the Free Democrats did not support Georgian Dream, saying that the withdrawal of supervision from the National Bank was dictated by political motives, Sputnik Georgia reports.
The head of the Presidential Administration, Davit Pataraia, stated that Margvelashvili would not sign the law only if he thought that it was against any fundamental values.
A Georgian political analyst, Josef Tsiskarishvili, told Vestnik Kavkaza that the Georgian president must always act in the framework of the Constitution, because he is its main defender. "After the Parliament overcomes the president's veto, the head of the government has no right to do anything. Of course, Margvelashvili is able not to sign the document, but then the speaker of the parliament would do it," he said.
"The head of state showed by this signing that he is not going to enter into a debate with the Parliament. He showed his character, stating that the main thing for him is the Constitution. Of course, he is not going to enter into a confrontation with the Parliament on this issue. It does not matter who would sign the law, in any case, the international financial institutions and the banking sector of Georgia know who and with what vision had to address this issue," the analyst noted.
Speaking about a possible political alliance between Margvelashvili and the United National Movement, which supported the president in the situation around the bill, Tsiskarishvili said that the President has repeatedly stated that in Georgia there is no position higher than his one."
The head of the Institute of Management Strategy, Petre Mamradze, in his turn, expressed the view that Giorgi Margvelashvili simply believed his advisers in this matter. "And he did the right thing. I agree with his veto. Many experts say that this is a counterproductive law which detracts from the real functions of the Central Bank of Georgia. So Margvelashvili thereby showed that he cooperates with the Parliament, but always establishes his position," the analyst stressed.
"The Parliament has prepared constitutional amendments in such a way that the constitutional commission didn't even know. And Margvelashvili insisted that the Commission should become familiar with it," he said.
Talking about how this decision will affect Margvelashvili's positions, the expert noted that his position is already shaky because the Georgian Dream coalition, which doesn't support him, has a sufficient majority.
However, he questioned the political union between the President and the United National Movement. "They will not support him openly, not realizing that it would be bad for Margvelashvili himself. The fact is that personal relationships are very important in Georgia, sometimes more important than state interests. Margvelashvili has many childhood friends in the UNM. But it won't result in overt support," Petre Mamradze concluded.
