Georgia: Shalva Papuashvili announced on his official Facebook page that he had signed a new law on “Transparency of Foreign Influence.” He said, ” Today I signed a law on “Transparency of Foreign Influence.”
The primary purpose of this law is to determine the future of Georgia’s political, economic, and social systems toward external interventions.
The approach to the law is simple. Suppose NGOs and media want to participate in the decision-making process and influence the lives of Georgian people with foreign government funding. In that case, they must meet the minimum standard of transparency—the population must know who is behind each actor. This is the case for government institutions, political parties, and public servants, which should be valid for foreign-funded organizations.
As they said, the law would achieve other goals besides its immediate goal. The two-month review process confirmed this.
The process once again showed us that the radical opposition puts the interests of other countries above the national interests of the Georgian people. Their national interest is mixed with applause from politicians of different countries, and independence is combined with obedience. They were like this when they were in power and remained in opposition.
In addition, in two months, we have seen threats, blackmail, stigmatization of law, foreign ministers protesting against the government elected by the people, and remembrance of Maidan from outside and its aesthetics being copied from inside. So, we have seen everything that is non-European and, by its nature, is Soviet. And this is all because Georgian people expressed their desire to know more about the money that comes to their country to influence their life.
He also declared, “Therefore, the most disappointing thing in this discussion, which was filled with screams, was probably that for two months, no foreign state, no foreign donor, no foreign-funded NGO appeared to say that it was ready to voluntarily commit the transparency of its work to the Georgian people. None of them.”
“This has once again shown our people that everything else is just an excuse, when in fact the purpose of protest is to preserve the privilege of secretly spending foreign money from people,” mentioned Papuashvili.
Shalva Papuashvili stated, “This apocalyptic picture was painted against the backdrop of transparency law with the only simple obligation that organizations whose revenue comes from foreign funding declare their finances once a year. This is the minimum obligation that could be made. There is no less commitment to transparency in any legal space worldwide.”
“We are seeing that over time, the artificial caves, the nine emotions, and many of the citizens who have joined the radical opposition protest have already seen that the transparency law will increase the responsibility and accountability of NGOs and their financiers, make the political system healthier, weaken disinformation, reduce radicalism and polo To the rization. And most importantly, it gives a citizen a bracket to use foreign funding for his interest and not only the donor and the organization he is funded. And that’s why this law is one of the most Georgian laws,” he noted.
He concluded his speech by saying, “Finally, I would like to thank the Georgian people, who once again showed wisdom, did not follow the mask of lies and hatred, and showed everyone at home and abroad that there is only one side—the side of Georgia, and there is only one choice—to stand on the side of Georgia.”
