Georgian PM claims bill on transparency of foreign influence is in “full accordance” with European standards from “beginning to the end”

The domestic bill on transparency of foreign influence was in “full accordance” with European standards from the “beginning to the end”, and was providing  a “single requirement”  for Non-Governmental organisations to publish their annual financial reports once a year, Irakli Kobakhidze, Georgian Prime Minister claimed at a meeting with the media representatives on Friday.

The legislative piece, 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, was supported by 83 MPs in the 150-member lawmaking body. It requires groups “considered to be an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power” to be registered in the public registry with the status and publicise their received funding.

Kobakhidze emphasised there was “no connection or similarity” between the Georgian law on transparency of foreign influence, here Russian and there American laws.

He also claimed, there was a “simple reason” why unspecific individuals or domestic NGOs were asking for the repeal of this law because “no one likes transparency, no one wants their money to be spent transparently”, adding this position was not acceptable to the Georgian Gov’t.

As for why the initiation and adoption of this law became necessary - first of all, I will say that negative practices were formed in Georgia precisely because of opacity, and I would like to remind you what types of activities were financed from external sources, for example, the involvement of specific organisations in revolutionary processes, and it was also direct financing of LGBT propaganda, financing of attacks on the Orthodox Church, drug propaganda, blocking of economic projects”, he emphasised.

Kobakhidze further pointed out that his Government had responsibility towards our country and population, including “ensuring a peaceful environment” in the country, adding the initiation of the bill on transparency of foreign Influence  “served this task”.