European Commission official calls for everyone “to lower temperature” amid protest rallies against transparency bill

Gert Jan Koopman, the Head of the Directorate General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission, on Thursday called on everyone in Georgia “to lower the temperature” in the country amid the protest rallies against the bill on transparency of foreign influence.

Koopman noted there was “a very tense environment”, with escalation and polarisation, in Tbilisi, calling the processes “very unhealthy” and condemning the violence in the streets of Georgia’s capital.

The transparency law, which was passed in its second reading [on Wednesday by the Georgian Parliament], is unacceptable in its current form and will create very serious obstacles on the path to European Union membership”, he added.

The official said Georgian people wanted to get closer to the EU and believed that the country’s Government also desired the same, stressing the Government should “take a step forward [...] I hope today’s very difficult situation can be resolved”.

Although transparency is valuable, the proposed bill in Georgia is not compatible with European values, Koopman noted, expressing hope the bill could be improved before its final adoption.

The protests have been ongoing against the draft law 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.