Parliament official claims some EU officials “driven by political goals” towards Georgia in response to criticism over transparency bill

Irakli Kadagishvili, the Chair of the Rules and Procedural Issues Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, on Wednesday alleged some representatives of the European Union were “driven by political goals towards Georgia” and refused to enter “discussions on the content” of the controversial domestic bill on transparency of foreign influence, reintroduction of which by the ruling party has sparked public protests in the country.

Kadagishvili was commenting on protests over the bill that calls for registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.

In his remarks over the matter, the Parliament official claimed “interference in the domestic legislative process from abroad”, and called the development “unacceptable”.

In this case, they are driven by political goals towards Georgia which are not related to the country's European path, but to the balancing of internal political forces”, the lawmaker claimed.

“This kind of interference is completely unacceptable. The interference is based on the fact that the legislative process is underway”, Kadagishvili said.

Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, on Tuesday said the bill on transparency of foreign influence was “not consistent with Georgia’s European Union aspiration and its accession trajectory”.