The European Union's ambassador to Georgia Pawel Herczynski said that a bill on foreign agents reintroduced to parliament by the country's ruling party this week is "incompatible" with the values of the bloc, which Georgia aspires to join.
“Last week, we also saw the return of a draft law on transparency of foreign influence, which was ‘unconditionally withdrawn’ a year ago. The EU was swift to react and expressed serious concerns about this draft legislation”, Herczyński said.
According to Herczynski, the draft law is "incompatible with EU norms and EU values", and may stall Georgia's EU membership application.
"In our view, concerns about transparency should not be used as an excuse to limit the space for civil society organizations, to limit the freedom of speech and the freedom of media," Herczynski said.
The ambassador to Georgia said the EU had “made clear” its “doors are open” for Georgia, but added the country’s Government needed to “act without delay” to advance towards membership by implementing necessary reforms.
Herczyński noted 5 months had passed since the European Commission “very clearly outlined” the reforms Georgia needed to implement for the purpose.
The EU diplomat said “creating and maintaining an enabling environment for civil society organisations and ensuring media freedom” was “at the core of democracy and crucial” for the country’s EU accession process. He also said time was “running out” if Georgia wished to advance to the next stage of its European integration process this year.
The bill on transparency of foreign influence was reintroduced this week by the ruling party.
