Irakli Kobakhidze, the Prime Minister of Georgia has slammed the unity among the Non-Governmental organizations and opposition parties. He termed this fusion illogical, which makes adopting foreign agents’ law necessary.
Kobakhidze while accusing the alliance between political parties and NGOs added that this alliance is a reflection of dark money being circulated in Georgian politics. Moreover the foreign agent’s law will bring transparency with its earlier implementation as well.
According to the Prime Minister transparency in the funding received by any political party or NGO is necessary. The source of political funding must be clear without any mask. The Foreign Agent’s Law will ensure transparency. Transparent politics will also lead to a healthy democratic setup.
The PM also gave his reaction to President Salome Zourabichvili’s appeal to the Constitutional Court. The President of Georgia has recently appealed to the Constitutional Court to repeal a controversial law called the “foreign agent transparency law.”
The Georgian Dream Party reintroduced the law. The law requires the registration of non-government organizations and other civil society organizations. If they receive more than twenty percent of their funding from a foreign country, they will be registered as organizations pursuing that nation’s interest.
It is worth mentioning that the president vetoed the law for violating the country’s constitutional provisions. However the law was adopted despite the president’s veto because it was approved by the speaker of Parliament. There were large-scale protests against the law, which were dispersed by the Government forcefully.
According to the Prime Minister “A lawsuit in the constitutional court will not stand anywhere as there is nothing wrong with bringing transparency in the day-to-day affairs of the organizations.”
Opponents deemed the law Russian law as it considered organizations pursuing the interests of a foreign power if they received more than 20 percent of their funding coming from abroad. They must be registered in the public registry with the status and be required to make their assets public.
