American law on transparency of foreign influence “complete disaster” – ruling party head

Irakli Kobakhidze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday slammed the American bill on foreign influence as a “complete disaster”, in contrast to a similar Georgian bill proposed by the former members of the party on Monday. 

He claimed the similar Russian law had also been copied from the US version, while the Georgian bill had been in “full accordance” with democratic standards, “only providing for the registration of the entities that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad”. 

 

The part of the domestic opposition and NGOs have condemned the bill as “very undemocratic” and urged the Parliament not to approve it. However, the GD has plans to vote for the draft bill. 

 

The US Department of State said last week if adopted the law could “isolate and silence the independent voices of Georgian citizens who seek a better future for their society. We believe that this law poses potential threats to Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration”.