ეკონომიკური პროფილი (Aug 2022)
LAND IS AN ESSENTIAL COMPONENT OF A NATION'S EXISTENCE AND CREATIVITY
Abstract
The mentality of the Georgian nation is historically democratic. Historically, Georgia was a perfectly feudal country. One quarter of Georgian territory - the mountains – lived millennia of a history under conditions of the so-called “community democracy” (non-dominant territorial community, community land ownership). Georgia, thanks to its strong Christian culture, its feudal history (and in the mountains, the so-called "community democracy"), is a typologically western country, which throughout its history has been striving for a connection with the West. The current situation in Georgia is particularly acute. The nutrition of the population of Georgia today is essentially dependent on imports, which, due to the difficult geostrategic and geopolitical situation, can be stopped at any moment. The use of agricultural land owned by a foreign citizen to prevent this danger requires the use of legal tools, which the Georgian state does not currently have. In Georgia, the form of long-term transferrable lease should be used mostly for foreigners. Land use is unregulated and unaccounted for! It is heartbreaking that in the ancient country of Georgian culture, today there is such a negligent attitude towards the land, which probably has no analogues in the modern world! The process of land transfer by the state is unsystematic and does not bring economic efficiency, social expediency or any other essential public benefit. The State has lost its main function - control over the land use. The rural community must surely regain its unconditional and inalienable right to its own estate; This means, first of all, that the common community land - pastureы, meadows, water landscapes, forestry fund lands (and more!) must be legally returned to the community for permanent and gratuitous ownership and use; this land should not be state-owned, but municipal property, and the community, which is its only legitimate owner and user, and it should be made impossible the ownership of this land, that is, fair and efficient management of rural heritage - its management, rational use, organization of other economic activities in the rural area using agricultural production or land as the main means of production without their consent. To solve the land issue, we deem it necessary: To define the main goals of land reform; To create a legislative and normative framework for fundamental agrarian reform; it is necessary to prepare and adopt a land code as soon as possible; To regulate land privatization - preparation of normative bases, by which the real content will be acquired by the principle of Article 116 of the Georgian Constitution of 1921. that "cultivation and use of land is the duty of the landowner to the public". Based on this principle, the law clearly defines the terms and conditions that must be met by the purchaser of the land. In particular, the rule of privatization of community-owned land will be established, when privatization is allowed only with the consent of the community and on the condition that the community should receive specific public benefits from the privatization. In addition, when privatizing land, it must be mandatory for the acquirer to submit land development and development plans (which must comply with the normative documents adopted by the municipality); To restore the community ownership of land - preparation of normative, institutional and technical bases, establishment of a local community in rural areas, which will be transferred to permanent ownership and gratuitous use of state-owned land within the administrative boundaries of the village; To establish a State Land Reform Commission to adopt and implement new land legislation, to carry out fundamental agrarian reform; the Commission should ensure that a national consensus is reached on reform-related issues, that the reform is properly planned and coordinated; To improve as soon as possible not only the land ownership but also the land use accounting. Solution to land issues, proper ownership of land, therefore, regulating land ownership and land use in the Georgian way, is our foremost responsibility towards each other, as well as towards our ancestors and descendants!
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