Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili signed on Wednesday the constitutional amendments adopted by parliament that restrict his powers, Parliament Speaker David Usupashvili told reporters on Wednesday.

"We have achieved very important results. The country is developing, reforms are underway. Today the president signed amendments to the Constitution. Probably today they will be published in the Journal of Laws. This means that from tomorrow the law comes into force," Usupashvili said.

According to him, the main result of the amendments is that "as of now, no one in Georgia will ever be able to change a government without elections to which people expressed their confidence".

According to the amendments, the president reserves the right to dismiss the government, but the previous government preserves its powers until the parliament approves the new government. At the same time, the restriction saying that the president has no right to dissolve the parliament within six months after parliamentary elections and within six months before the presidential election remains in force. The sole condition for dissolution of the parliament is a triple refusal of the parliament to approve the government appointed by the president.

On Monday, the U.S. State Department welcomed the adoption by Georgia's parliament of the constitutional changes limiting the president's powers.

The State Department's statement says the constitutional changes pave the way for the consolidation of Georgian democracy and renewed focus on the many issues facing the government.

EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule also welcomed "the gradual shift to pragmatism in Georgia" on his Twitter account, according to civil.ge website.

Co-rapporteurs from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Michael Aastrup Jensen and Boriss Cilevics, also released a statement on Tuesday welcoming the passage of the constitutional amendments with bipartisan support.