Georgian Speaker: Venice Commission turns into political body

The Venice Commission, formally known as the European Commission for Democracy through Law, has in recent years shifted from providing legal opinions to issuing political assessments, Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said.

He emphasised that its conclusions no longer relate to its original mandate of preparing legal evaluations, Caliber.Az reports via Georgian media.

The commission recently issued opinions on Georgia’s “foreign agents” law, amendments to the grants law, and other legislation concerning “foreign influence.”

“We have long noted that, unfortunately, the Venice Commission has completely changed its practice in recent years. Previously, its opinions were strictly legal, but now we see political conclusions and reports,” Papuashvili said.

He cited the commission’s stance on the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) law as an example, noting that it refrains from criticising the American law but raises objections regarding its Georgian counterpart.

“For any lawyer, it is clear that this is a political opinion, unrelated to the Venice Commission’s original task of preparing legal assessments,” he added.

Regarding accusations of “stigmatisation” of non-governmental organisations, the parliament speaker called them unfounded, pointing out that if similar provisions in the U.S. are not considered discriminatory, it is unclear why they are viewed as such in Georgia.

“Are we different people – Georgians and Americans? It is completely absurd to claim that what is acceptable in the U.S. is unacceptable for Georgians. If the Venice Commission wants to view us through such a segregated lens, that is another matter entirely,” he concluded.

As a reminder, the Venice Commission, an expert body of the Council of Europe on Constitutional Law matters, published an opinion criticising Georgia’s recently adopted laws cracking down on foreign funding for media and civil society organisations, calling for the repeal and/or revision of controversial provisions.

The 24-page document, published on October 15 and prepared at the request of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), reviewed the Georgian version of the FARA, as well as recent amendments to the Law on Grants, the Law on Broadcasting, and the Law on Political Associations. All four were passed during the spring session in the one-party parliament.

The Commission called to repeal Georgian FARA and the foreign funding ban for broadcasters, while recommending the repeal or at least “thorough revision” of the amendments to the grants law requiring foreign donors to seek government consent before allocating local grants.

By Khagan Isayev