MEP says Georgia, “important partner” of EU, has right to adopt any law it needs

Katarína Roth Neveďalová, a member of the European Parliament, on Saturday said Georgia, as “an important partner of the European Union”, had the right to adopt any law it deemed necessary, in her comments over the resolution adopted on Thursday by the EP against the Georgian bill on transparency of foreign influence.

In her remarks over the controversial 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, and has been met by criticism by some of Georgia’s foreign partners, Neveďalová noted that “lately it has become frequent” for EU to call something they do not approve - “Russian or pro-Russian”.

The Slovak official told the media that MEPs could have their opinions on the draft law, but stressed that “in the end” the decision on the adoption of the bill had to be made by the Georgian authorities.

She emphasised the EU was “not right” when criticising the Georgian transparency bill, as the bloc was planning to adopt a similar initiative, adding some parts of the transparency bill caused concerns, including the title, but “the main thing is what is written in this bill”.

The domestic bill passed the first of its hearings at the Parliament on April 17, with further readings to follow before its potential adoption.