Parliament Speaker alleges European, American endowments spending money in Georgia in “non-transparent manner”

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Monday claimed European and American endowments were being used to spend money in Georgia in a “non-transparent manner”.  

Papuashvili alleged the money was going to finance political parties and “radical groups” in the country.

I call on everyone to, first of all, ensure publicity and transparency of their finances in Georgia. Unfortunately, today there are both European and American endowments that spend money in Georgia non-transparently, and then it turns out that this money goes to finance political parties and radical groups”, he claimed.

“It is sad that until now I have not heard from any European official a statement that they will certainly ensure transparency of the money being spent from the EU budget. To date, the European Endowment of Democracy does not disclose its funding in Georgia, which, of course, is against European values”, the lawmaker added.

The comments came after the ruling Georgian Dream party-initiated law on transparency of foreign influence, which requires 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 approved by the Georgian Parliament.

It was supported by 84 MPs in the 150-member legislative body, with 30 voting against, and requires the 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.