Ruling party official suggests transparency law “may no longer be necessary” as Trump temporarily suspends foreign assistance programmes

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday suggested the domestic law on the transparency of foreign influence “may no longer be necessary” as the United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order on temporarily suspending all US foreign assistance programmes for 90 days pending reviews to determine whether they were aligned with his policy goals.

In his remarks over the matter, Mdinaradze claimedTrump’s decision had “proved” that the law was “not just good, but necessary”.

[Trump’s] decision will have the following impact - we may no longer need the transparency law at all. In other words, this has even proved that the transparency law was not just good, but necessary. One of Trump's first decisions confirmed this. Let them now call this decision by Trump ‘Russian’”, the ruling party official said in reference to the domestic opposition’s branding of the controversial law.

The law on transparency of foreign influence, adopted last year, requires registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in Georgia as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.