Ruling party MP calls for apology over foreign agents law campaign

Georgian Dream lawmaker Levan Machavariani has called on opposition parties, non-governmental organisations and activists to apologise to the Georgian public over their campaign against the country's transparency law, which opponents dubbed the "Russian law".

Machavariani, the first deputy chair of the Georgian Dream parliamentary faction, accused opposition groups and civil society organisations of deliberately misleading the public about the legislation and using “aggressive and insulting” rhetoric against its critics.

He argued that the campaign was aimed primarily at preventing the sources of funding for NGOs from becoming public.

Machavariani specifically named former Public Defender Nino Lomjaria, Transparency International Georgia head Eka Gigauri and women's rights activist Baia Pataraia, as well as what he called "collective Soros supporters", and accused them of opposing financial transparency.

He also criticised former US ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan, alleging that the campaign against the law was conducted under her leadership.

Machavariani also said opponents had warned that the law would lead to restrictions on opposition media and NGOs, problems with remittances from Georgians abroad, reduced access to foreign-funded education and agricultural grants, and broader restrictions on foreign assistance.

He said two years after the law was adopted, those predictions had not materialised.

Machavariani said opposition media and NGOs had not been banned, Georgians abroad had continued sending remittances, students had retained access to overseas funding and farmers had continued receiving grants.

He also referred to USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), claiming that the current US administration had declared both organisations criminal and shut them down.

Those claims reflect Machavariani's characterisation of developments in the United States and were not independently substantiated in his statement.

Machavariani further noted reducing political polarisation required concrete actions rather than statements.

He called on opposition parties, NGOs and activists to apologise for what he described as "insults, hatred, aggression, bullying" and the use of the "Russian" label against Georgian citizens during the campaign.

He also called on those groups to withdraw from Georgian politics.