Georgian parliament speaker asks legal opinion from Venice Commission on controversial bills on foreign agents

Georgian parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Wednesday sent a letter to the president of the Venice Commission of the Council of  Europe and requested a legal opinion on two bills on foreign agents amid large-scale protests. 

 

In the letter Papuashvili claimed in face of security and other challenges, the parliament of Georgia had decided to introduce new regulations for non-profit organizations (NPOs) operating in Georgia.He said two draft laws had been proposed – on the “Transparency of Foreign Influence” and on the “Registration of Foreign Agents”, that he said aimed at ensuring “at least minimum transparency and accountability of NPOs including when it comes to foreign funding”. 

 

“As Georgia progresses on the European Union membership path, we are determined to closely work with our international partners to ensure that there is a fine balance between legitimate goals of transparency and security on the one hand and rights and freedoms of civil society on the other”, he said. 

 

The bill on transparency of foreign influence was approved with its first reading by the parliament on Tuesday amid protests and backlash from the international community. 

 

The ruling party claimed it would wait for the commission’s opinion on the bills before the next vote of the bills that envisage the registration of domestic NGOs and media organizations as foreign agents if they receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad. 
The bills have been proposed by former members of the ruling party who still remain in the parliamentary majority.