The Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, Shalva Papuashvili, announced that the accreditation system for journalists in the Georgian parliament is changing, with adjustments to be introduced on June 8. If the new rules are repeatedly violated, the parliament will suspend the accreditation of journalists and other media outlets for up to one year.
He noted that he had promised to study the experience of the European Parliament and adopt it, as it contains “certain elements” that are “interesting” for implementation in the Parliament of Georgia, emphasizing that this would bring the accreditation system closer to the European model.
Papuashvili recalled that currently, in the Georgian parliament, violating accreditation rules carries a one-month suspension for the first offense and a six-month suspension for a repeated violation.
“We saw that the European Parliament has the option of suspension for up to one year, so we will bring the Georgian parliament’s accreditation system into closer alignment with that of the European Parliament: a one-month suspension will apply for the first violation, and for a repeated one, it will be possible to suspend accreditation for up to one year,” he stated.
In addition, sanctions will apply not only to individual journalists of a specific media outlet, as has been the case until now, but also to the media outlet as a whole.
“By bringing the Georgian accreditation system closer to the European one, we are introducing the possibility of revoking the accreditation of an entire media outlet for up to one year, depending on the severity and frequency of the violations. Essentially, these are the two main changes we are borrowing from the experience of the European Parliament,” Shalva Papuashvili stated.
