The U.S. senators, Jeanne Shaheen, and Dick Durbin, who are visiting Georgia, met with representatives of non-governmental organizations.
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“It is not a coincidence that one of the Kremlin's targets in Georgia is civil society. Without a doubt, strong democracy brings prosperity and security, but successful democracy is hopeless without a strong civil society. The United States will continue supporting Georgian civil society and our partnership to strengthen the country's institutions. Georgia must continue to advance democratic reforms to achieve the goal of a safer, more prosperous European future—this is what its citizens want and deserve”, states US Embassy to Georgia.
According to Eka Gigauri, executive director of Transparency International Georgia, they talked to the senators about fake news, the challenges of corruption, the court, and the media environment. “They are mostly interested in our vision, how we can stop the democratic backdrop that we have clearly in the country,” Gigauri told reporters.
According to Nino Dolidze, Executive director of ISFED, one of the main issues was the implementation of 12 recommendations regarding the EU candidate status and the 2024 parliamentary elections.
Today, on February 20, the Bureau of the Georgian parliament, considered it advisable to start a discussion on the draft law about the transparency of foreign influence. The draft law envisages granting the status of “foreign agent” to most NGOs and media outlets.
- According to the draft law, an agent of foreign influence is a non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal entity (non-governmental organization) and a media outlet, whose more than 20% of income is from abroad, with the exception of those organizations established by an administrative body (state or municipal body/institution) or national sports federations.
- Such legal entities will be subject to financial reporting obligations, which include, providing information on the amount and purpose of any money spent during the previous calendar year. Information entered in the registry of agents of foreign influence is public.
- According to the draft law, in order to identify the "agent of foreign influence", the Ministry of Justice of Georgia will have the opportunity to carry out monitoring, within the framework of which, it will be granted the authority to process all necessary information, including personal data.
- The basis for starting monitoring is: the decision of the relevant authorized person of the Ministry of Justice; A written statement submitted to the Ministry containing a proper reference to a specific agent of foreign influence;
- According to the draft law, the ministry is also given the authority to impose fines of 10, 20, and 25 thousand GEL and to force the registration of organizations.
Draft law initiators are members of the parliamentary majority: Sozar Subari, Mikheil Kavelashvili, Dimitri Khundadze, Guram Macharashvili, Viktor Japaridze, Irakli (Dachi) Beraia, Eka Sepashvili, Davit Kacharava, and Zaal Mikeladze. The Bureau has defined the Legal Issues Committee as a leading committee on the transparency of foreign influence, and Foreign Relations and Defense and Security Committees as the compulsory committees.
