NATO official says alliance “concerned” over Georgian bill on transparency of foreign influence

Javier Colomina, the NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, on Friday said the bloc was concerned about the bill on the transparency of foreign influence, which passed its first reading in the Georgian Parliament this week.

In his comments over the bill, which 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, Colomina said the “key” for Georgia as a NATO aspirant state was to “have the right framework to ensure media freedom and civil society participation”.

“This draft is a step backwards and does not further Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration”, he said in a social media message.

The first reading of the legislative piece was supported by 83 MPs in the 150-member lawmaking body, on the backdrop of public protests and criticism by some of the country’s foreign partners.