Adoption of 'Transparency of Foreign Influence' law is Georgia's victory: Kobakhidze

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Monday said the adoption of the controversial transparency law meant a “victory” for the country’s “sovereignty and security”, agenda.ge reports.

 

The PM told a weekly Government meeting the adoption of the law should not be considered a “victory for the Government itself or a defeat for its opponents”, but rather as a “triumph for Georgia's sovereignty and security”.

 

[E]ven more so, we cannot consider the adoption of the law as a defeat for our international partners. They often try to present it like this. [But] [b]y adopting the law on transparency, only Georgia has won - its sovereignty and its security. Therefore, by adopting this law, only the ill-wishers of our country were defeated - this can be said unequivocally”, he claimed.

 

Kobakhidze further alleged “a lot of misinformation” against the law had been shared over the past two months.

 

“Liberal fascism is an ideology no less dangerous than classical fascism and Bolshevism, [and] has been artificially introduced in our country for years through non-transparent funds”, he claimed.

 

This is absolutely incompatible with Georgian culture. I would like to urge everyone to distance themselves from liberal fascism, which poses the greatest threat to the personal development of its followers”, the PM concluded.

 

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Monday formally signed the domestic law on transparency of foreign influence, which requires registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.