Ruling team must continue to work with “European, American friends” to resolve any questions on transparency bill - GD Chair

Irakli Garibashvili, the new Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party and the former Prime Minister of Georgia, on Saturday said the ruling team should continue to work with the country’s international partners - “European and American friends” - to resolve any questions on the controversial Georgian bill on transparency of foreign influence, resubmitted by the parliamentary majority last week.

Garibashvili’s comments followed yesterday’s statements by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who said his Government and the European Union had criticism of the bill and added “we hope that Georgia will not adopt the law”.

• Georgian PM, German Chancellor review controversial bill on transparency of foreign influence

Everyone has their own opinion, including the Chancellor, and I respect everyone’s opinion”, Garibashvili noted, stressing it was unclear if individuals and organisations were obliged to fill out a declaration and “be completely transparent about their activities”, why the same standard for non-governmental organisations was off limits.

The draft law, retracted last year following the public protests, calls for the 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.