European Council: Bill on Transparency of Foreign Influence inconsistent with Georgia’s EU aspiration

President of the European Council Charles Michel has warned that the draft Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence is inconsistent with Georgia’s EU aspiration.

“The Georgian people have chosen the European path and in response, the European Council granted Georgia the candidate status last December. Let me be clear: the draft Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence is not consistent with Georgia’s EU aspiration and its accession trajectory and will bring Georgia further away from the EU and not closer,” Interfax reports citing President of the European Council Charles Michel’s message on X.

The Georgian parliament began to consider this bill in the first reading at a plenary session on April 16. The opposition and non-governmental organisations stand against the adoption of the document. The initiative is also criticised by the West. Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili  promised to veto the bill.

Leader of the Georgian parliamentary majority Mamuka Mdinaradze said at a meeting on April 16 that the purpose of adopting the bill is to prevent the risks of using foreign grants in Georgia by non-governmental organisations to destabilise the situation in the country.

“There are risks of destabilising the situation in the country, and we have specific data. So we want to reach transparency in unaccounted money in Georgia, regardless of which country it comes from,” Mdinaradze said.

Chairman of the “United National Movement” opposition party Levan Khabeishvili said at the same meeting that Georgia does not need the bill. Moreover, its adoption would mean a change in the country’s policy from European integration to rapprochement with Russia, which is opposed by the overwhelming majority of the population.

“We propose the ruling Georgian Dream party to hold a plebiscite on the adoption of the bill ‘On Transparency of Foreign Influence’ to relieve tension in society,” he said.