The Chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committees point out in the joint statement that although the parliamentary majority leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party promised to withdraw the so-called law on foreign agents from parliamentary deliberations last spring, they now have announced the reintroduction of the draft law, despite large-scale protests by the Georgian population.
The FAC Chairs express deep concern about the content of the draft law, which in their opinion bears more than a passing resemblance to Putin’s Russia.
“[The law] is designed to stigmatize and weaken Georgia’s vibrant pro-European civil society and NGO sector, while it is widely known as Georgia’s greatest asset and hope and has a reputation of being one of the most transparent in the world in terms of budget and funding,” the Chairs say in their joint statement.
The FAC Chairs underline that reintroduction of this law severely undermines Georgia’s European path and candidate status, because creating and maintaining the enabling environment for civil society organisations and media freedom is at the core of democracy and crucial for the success of European integration.
They also recall that Georgia was granted EU candidate status on the understanding that it will implement the 12 steps outlined by the European Commission, to advance towards the opening of accession negotiations and that up to now Georgia has only implemented three of those recommendations.
“We urge the ruling Georgian Dream party to withdraw it from parliamentary deliberations, as we continue to support the European aspirations of the Georgian people and expect that Georgia upholds its commitment to the promotion of democracy, the rule of law and human rights,” the statement says. “We sincerely hope that the Georgian government will once again demonstrate its maturity and determination to integrate into European and Euro-Atlantic institutions, guided by the values of Western liberal democracy. The future of the Georgian people is at stake.”
The joint statement is signed by the Chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committees of the Parliaments of Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and the United Kingdom. The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima, Rihards Kols signed the statement on behalf of Latvia.
The full text of the joint statement in English is attached to this story and is also available online here.
