Georgia, as sovereign, independent country, can adopt law it wants - French Ambassador on transparency bill

Answering a journalist’s question about the adoption of the draft law on combating external interference by the French National Assembly, Gasri said “the Georgian bill is not a French law”. Photo via Sheraz Gasri/twitter

Agenda.ge, 16 Apr 2024 - 20:40, Tbilisi,Georgia

Sheraz Gasri, the French Ambassador to Georgia, on Tuesday said Georgia, as an independent and sovereign country, “can adopt the law it wants”, but noted the controversial bill on transparency of foreign influence, introduced by the ruling Georgian Dream party, “does not correspond to the values of the European Union”.

In her comments to the media, Gasri expressed the opinion of her country and other European Union member states, who were supporting Georgia’s European integration, but stressed “We [diplomatic corps, EU states] are not the ones who should conduct negotiations on laws”, adding it had to be discussed by the country’s Government and the Georgian people.

What I can say as a representative of the French Government and the EU member state is that we welcome Georgia to the European family”, the Ambassador pointed out.

Answering a journalist’s question about the adoption of the draft law on combating external interference by the French National Assembly, Gasri said “the Georgian bill is not a French law”.

The draft law, which was retracted last year following the public protestს, calls for registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of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.