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Other Branch activities
- In 2022-2023, the EPLO Branch was in active communication with the Georgian Parliament, namely,
Parliamentary Committees for Foreign Affairs, European Integration, Youth and Sports, Human Rights, and Civil
Integration. The Branch was regularly updating members of the Parliament concerning ongoing activities and
future plans.
- In 2023, the Branch completed a project aimed at elaborating a package of legislative changes which would
facilitate implementation of Georgia’s international legal commitments in the Youth sector. Within this project,
a group of EPLO experts submitted to the parliament a package of 28 legislative amendments to specific Georgian
laws. The project opens new opportunities for future cooperation between the EPLO and the Georgian parliament
in the legal harmonization field.
- The Branch carries out intensive communications with other diplomatic missions, especially those representing
EPLO member states, as well as various governmental, scientific, public, and private organizations. To this end,
the Branch activities proved productive in building an efficient network of relevant institutions for expanding the
EPLO activities in Georgia and other states of South Caucasus.
- The meeting with the new EU Ambassador to Georgia Mr. Pawel Herczynski opened new opportunities for even
wider collaboration between the two representations.
As the Branch is very much interested in extending its activities to other
countries of South Caucasus, few consecutive meetings were held with the
Armenian Ambassador to Georgia Mr. Ashot Smbatyan. Currently, the sides
intensively discuss future EPLO activities in Armenia.
- In December 2022, the Director of the Branch visited Brussels and together
with the EPLO Regional Director in Brussels Mr. Panos Gredis held meetings
at the Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, the
Brussels-based economic think tank “Bruegel”, Directorate General COMM-
Parlamentarium, European Parliament, etc. The meetings built a solid
foundation for future cooperation between the EPLO and leading European
think tanks and foundations.
- In 2022, the Branch proposed the participation of Mr. Mikheil Sarjveladze, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee
for Human Rights and Civil Integration, to the Global Rule of Law Commission, which was initiated by the EPLO
under the auspices of the UN General Assembly on 14 November 2022. Offering to the Georgian representative a
sit in the Commission is a vivid example of the EPLO’s special interest in and attention to the South Caucasian
Region. The Commission’s inaugural meeting took place on 10-11 January 2023, at the EPLO Cascais (Portugal)
premises. Mr. Sarjveladze participated in the event together with other 16 members of the Global Rule of Law
Commission. Currently, the EPLO and the Georgian side explore possibilities of holding one of the next Commission
sessions in Georgia.
Capítulo Brasileiro (Brazilian Chapter)
The Brazilian Chapter of EPLO registers the visit of Professor Spyridon Flogaitis to São Paulo, where we had a first
meeting of our Chapter in the Fernando Henrique Cardoso Foundation, led by Professor Celso Lafer, President of
the Chapter and of the Cardoso Foundation.
Professor Spyridon Flogaitis also went to Brazil, where he visited the office of the Brazilian Institute for Public Law
(IDP), directed by Minister Gilmar Mendes, Dean of the Brazilian Supreme Court; the IDP was invited – and
accepted – to integrate the Brazilian Chapter of the EPLO.
Also, in Brasíl, Professor Spyridon Flogaitis met with the legal advisor of Foreign Affairs Mr. Celso Amorim,
former Minister of Foreign Affairs to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, judges of the Supreme Court, the Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs Maria Laura da Rocha, and the President of the Parliament Senator Rodrigo Pacheco
to discuss the membership of Brazil in EPLO.
In Rio de Janeiro, Professor Spyridon Flogaitis met with Carlos Ivan Simonsen Leal, Director of the Getúlio Vargas
Foundation, a Brazilian higher education institution and think tank which was established in December 1944 –
aiming at a possible cooperation with the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI) and with the group
led by Professor Joaquim Falcão on democracy and rule of law – as well as the chief of one of the biggest law
offices in the city to talk about a future cooperation.
Especially concerning the participation of the Brazilian Institute for Public Law (IDP) in the Brazilian Chapter, new
perspectives were opened for a future cooperation with this institute also in Lisbon, where the IDP organizes a
well-known international seminar, with particular interest in establishing contacts with the offices of EPLO in
Portugal and Italy, to develop strategic joint programs.
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