European Council President says transparency bill will not bring Georgia “closer to EU”

Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, on Friday told Euronews that the controversial Georgian bill on the transparency of foreign influence, which passed its first reading in the country’s Parliament this week, would not bring Georgia “closer to the European Union. This is the opposite”.

In his comments on the draft law, 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, Michel noted the Council was “disappointed” with the Georgian Government’s decision to resubmit the bill, after retracting it last year amid public protests.

To journalists’ question whether the controversial law could impact Georgia’s EU integration, Michel emphasised "If they vote bills which are not in line with those principles and values, it has an impact on the process."

The [EU] enlargement process is a merit-based process and the idea for the candidate countries – for those who want to join the EU - the idea is that they respect the fundamental common principles and values”, he added.

The Council President stressed that Brussels was expecting Tbilisi “to send more positive signals”, as the EU candidate country.

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.