PACE Delegation's Visit to Tbilisi Begins with a Scandal

The visit of a monitoring group of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which arrived in Tbilisi last night, began with a scandal. No officials came to meet the PACE rapporteurs, Bulgaria's Yevgeny Kirilev and Hungary's Matyas Eorsi.

According to Tbilisi's Rustavi-2 TV channel, the two officials found themselves all alone at the airport and were forced to deliver a lengthy explanation to airport employees and then pay for their services. In the long run, the PACE delegation arrived in Tbilisi's Marriott Hotel at 4 o'clock in the morning.

Talking to journalists, Kirilev said the "reception" he had encountered in Tbilisi was an unprecedented occurrence in his career as a PACE rappoprteur. He reminded the assembly that the delegation had travelled to Georgia on the invitation of the country's parliament and government.

In accordance with the program of the visit, the group's working meetings begin on Thursday and end on February 15th.