Members of the European Parliament have responded to another attempt by "Georgian Dream" to adopt the Russian law on so-called "foreign agents," calling on the European Commission to monitor whether such decisions by the Georgian government correspond to the status of a candidate country.
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“The law on “foreign agents” or “transparency of foreign influence” is incompatible with EU values and democratic principles and runs against Georgia’s ambitions for EU membership. We urge the Georgian authorities to follow EU practices on transparency and accountability of civil society organisations, including the media, rather than those of Russia and other authoritarian states, which aim to control, repress and ultimately dissolve civil society and free media.
The EU provides on average over €100 million a year in technical and financial assistance to Georgia. Our assistance is focused on helping Georgia implement key pro-European reforms, including improving the lives of the Georgian people, supporting businesses, promoting economic development, building infrastructure and ensuring quality public services. The law on “foreign agents” or “transparency of foreign influence” would label Georgian civil society actors as “foreign agents” and “enemies of the state” if they received similar EU funding as the Georgian government for similar activities.
We call on the Georgian leadership to maintain their pledge of last year and not to reintroduce the “foreign agents” law and instead to invest in an inclusive relationship with Georgian civil society, which has proven to be instrumental in monitoring and supporting the implementation of reforms that would lead to Georgia’s integration into the European Union. We also call on the European Commission to monitor whether such decisions by the Georgian authorities are consistent with the status of a candidate country and to provide an assessment in a timely manner. We understand and support the fact that in case of a regressive process of Georgia’s accession to the EU, the European Commission might have to return to the initial positions of the enlargement process, “ the statement says.
As mentioned in their statement, in December 2023, Georgia was granted the status of a candidate for the European Union, with the reservation that the recommendations issued by the European Commission would be implemented. The proposed law on “foreign agents”, also known as the law on “transparency of foreign influence”, violates at least two of these steps: Step 9, which calls for civil society to be involved in legislative and policy-making processes and to operate freely, and Step 1, which calls for the fight against disinformation against the EU and its values.
The statement is signed by Petras Auštrevičius, Miriam Lexmann, Sven Mikser, Viola von Cramon-Taubadel, Anna Fotyga, Andrius Kubilius, Karin Karlsbro, François Thiollet, Katalin Cseh, Anna Júlia Donáth, Hungary Andrey Kovatchev, Hilde Vautmans, Michaela Šojdrová, Michael Gahler, Reinhard Bütikofer, Ramona Strugariu, Jozef Mihál, Marek Paweł Balt, Rasa Juknevičienė, Attila Ara-Kovács, Nacho Sánchez Amor, Isabel Santos.
