Georgia joined the brotherhood of States against "foreign agents"

Despite mass protests, numerous detentions of protesters and injuries to people in a confrontation with the police, the Georgian parliament adopted the controversial law on Transparency of Foreign Influence in the first reading.  The law obliges non-governmental organizations and the media, which receive more than 20% of funding from abroad, to register as an organization conducting the interests of a foreign force. Organizations will be required to fill out a financial declaration every year. The absence of registration as a foreign agent or the absence of a completed declaration will entail a fine of 25 thousand lari ($9,398 thousand.)

Political opponents of the ruling majority in parliament from the “Georgian Dream” party, supporters of ex-President Mikhail Saakashvili, call this law "Russian", since it repeats the term "foreign agents", borrowed from the same content of the law of the Russian Federation "On control over the activities of persons, those under foreign influence" (new edition dated 11.03.2014).

The most influential opposition United National Movement party claims that by adopting this law, the Georgian government, led in fact by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, will deprive NGOs and the press in Georgia of foreign funding, thereby weakening its political competitors in order to remain in power indefinitely.  A new registry is being created, in which "foreign agents" will be entered.

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili desperately supports the opposition, and even appealed to Brussels with an urgent request to discuss the anti-democratic law, in her opinion, at a special meeting of the European Council, which will be held in Brussels on April 17-18. The issue of Georgia is not on the agenda of the meeting. The President promised to veto the law if it passes the second and third readings. "I will veto this law, as I do with other laws that contradict the strategy and recommendations of the European Union," she said in an interview with the BBC. But then the government can begin the process of impeachment - the forced resignation of Salome Zurabishvili. 

"The concern is that this is an exact copy of Putin's law, which was adopted in 2012 and gradually grew and developed. This is a law against the activities of non-governmental organizations, against the activities of the media, and this is a law against all international organizations of our partner countries, European countries, the United Kingdom and the United States, which have supported Georgia's independence, the construction of state institutions and the development of our economy for more than 30 years," President Zurabishvili said.

In March 2023, the Georgian authorities, considering the mass riots, promised to abandon the adoption of the bill on foreign agents, which was then called "On Transparency of foreign influence." But this year, the same bill with a changed name and text was again proposed to parliament by the ruling political force “Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia.”  The leader of the parliamentary majority, Mamuka Mdinaradze, said that non-governmental organizations undermine the country's security. In particular, they are dragging Georgia into the conflict in Ukraine.

There are more than 10 thousand non-governmental organizations receiving Western grants in small, five-million-strong Georgia. NGOs use money from the United States and Europe to solve numerous social and political problems.  NGOs receive the main financial support from many international organizations. The largest donors include: the George Soros Open Society Foundation, the European Foundation for Democracy, the American National Democratic Institute and the National Endowment for Democracy (USAID and NED), the German party structures Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the Foundation Heinrich Bell", the international NGO "Irex", "Amnesty International".  The Soros Open Society Foundation has been operating in Georgia since 1994 and has since invested more than $100 million in the country. In 2023, the United Georgia for Europe project was launched, which aims to promote Georgia's integration into the EU. The initiators of the project are the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS), the Open Society of Georgia Foundation (OSGF), the Center for Economic Policy Research (EPRC) and the House of Free Journalists (IJH). Over 33 months, about 3 million euros have been allocated to finance the project.

The leader of the parliamentary majority, Mamuka Mdinaradze, said in parliament that the bill pursues only one goal - to clarify where non-governmental organizations spend multimillion-dollar foreign grants. However, the new law will not affect public institutions. Unlike the media and non-governmental organizations, the government will not be obliged to "admit" that it is an agent of another country.

State/budgetary organizations in Georgia have received foreign grants in the amount of about 2.8 billion lari in the last 10 years alone. According to the State budget of Georgia for 2023, various activities were funded by a foreign grant in the amount of GEL 279 million 550 thousand. Of these, 168 million 650 thousand lari are grants received from international organizations, and 7 million 600 thousand lari are grants received from foreign governments. (1 Georgian Lari is equal to 0.38 US dollars). The implementation of projects at the expense of foreign grants is used by the state for its own PR, the author of the article in Georgia Online believes.

According to critics, the adoption of the law will not only hit independent media and the civil sector, but will also become a serious obstacle to Tbilisi's path to the EU.

They returned to the discussion of the bill on the eve of the elections to be held in Georgia in October 2024, but this does not bother the “Georgian Dream”: In Georgia, people who vote for the opposition will not support the “Georgian Dream,” even if it revokes this law. And for those who vote for the "Dream", this law has no such fundamental importance," said Archil Sikharulidze, a Georgian political scientist, founder of the SIKHA Foundation, in a conversation with RBC.

Georgia's internal policy is a confrontation between the ruling regime, which is concerned about its own survival, and the fragmented opposition, which is rushing to power, Georgian political scientists Cornelius Kakachia and Bidzina Lebanidze wrote a year ago. "There was a civil society between them that aspires to Europe and demands reforms," and the law on foreign agents became an attempt to take it under control.

The “Georgian Dream,” which is in power, does not seek to join the European Union. "After all, Europe will demand democracy from them - respectively, and the surrender of power sometime, and a real reform of justice and human rights. This clearly calls into question their authority. Therefore, the “Georgian Dream” is moving towards an authoritarian Russia," explains Paata Zakareishvili, professor at the G. Robakidze University.

The “Georgian Dream” is changing the trajectory of Georgia's foreign policy in order to stay in power, agrees analyst Giorgi Shaishmelashvili. "They will change course, both in foreign policy and in domestic policy, they are trying to destroy all points of freedom inside the country," says Shaishmelashvili. In his opinion, both non-governmental organizations and independent media, as well as civil society in general, will come under attack.

It should be added that the Russian leadership in several statements rejected the involvement of the Russian Federation in the adoption of the conflict law in Georgia.

There is no concept of a "foreign agent" in Azerbaijan, but strict reporting and control measures are established by law against NGOs and the press funded from abroad. Since 2014, Azerbaijan has tightened the "law on grants" by introducing mechanisms to restrict the implementation of foreign grants in the country that do not correspond to national interests.