Parliament speaker says language of bill on transparency of foreign influence “taken from directive” initiated by European Commission

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Wednesday said the language of the bill on the transparency of foreign influence, initiated by the parliamentary majority, had been taken from a draft directive initiated by the European Commission.

The comment came after the majority’s decision on Wednesday to reinitiate the controversial draft law - that would designate organisations that derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” - after it was retracted last year following public protests.

The [EU] directive has something to do with the transparency of foreign interest representation. It's a tougher terminology than the one written in our bill regarding pursuing the interests of a foreign country”, Papuashvili said.

He said the directive “applied to everyone” except EU members, and further added that “therefore, in our case it applies to everyone outside of Georgia - this is the logic behind this bill”.

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party in the Parliament, on Wednesday said the bill would be initiated in the Parliament with “exactly the same text” as last year, only replacing the term describing subject organisations.

The European Commission last year adopted a Defence of Democracy package ahead of the 2024 European elections, with a central piece of the package including a legislative proposal to enhance transparency and democratic accountability of interest representation activities on behalf of third countries aimed at influencing policies, decision-making and the democratic space.