President Salome Zourabichvili has signed a law abolishing the State Inspector's Office.

However, as stated in the statement of the President, she considers it unacceptable to adopt such an important law in an expedited manner, without any consultations or proper discussion.

"Today I signed the amendments to the law on the State Inspector's Office, which provides for the abolition of the service and the establishment of new structures instead. There have been and still are differing views on such structural changes, although this decision does not contain a categorical legal objection. The abolition of the service and the establishment of new structures do not provide a basis for motivated remarks of a legal nature by the President.

However, I find it unacceptable to pass such an important law in an expedited manner, without any consultation or proper discussion, especially since the need to review it in an expedited manner has not been justified by anything.

It is unacceptable that in a country that aims to consolidate democracy, a key issue such as the protection of personal data is not given adequate time or space for discussion.

It is a very bad precedent that the head of an independent service, a person elected for a term of 6 years, is dismissed without any prior warning or reasoned remarks about her professional activities, especially when strengthening the independence and inviolability of officials remain one of the biggest challenges for our country.

The resulting legislative changes have created an unfair situation, which I share and I express my negative attitude. I hope that a solution will be found to enable the State Inspector to continue her activities in one of the newly created services, with all the guarantees of independence. The decision made against her also determines the degree of independence of other employees," reads the President’s statement.

source: IPN