Georgian Parliament Speaker says “only way” for opponents to criticise ruling party-tabled law modeled after US FARA is to say “US is bad”

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Wednesday said that the only way to criticise the ruling party-tabled law modeled after the US Foreign Agents Registration Act was to claim that the “United States is bad” - something he believes the “liberal International” would not dare to say.

In his remarks, Papuashvili noted that the Georgian version of the law was identical to the American one.

“We have introduced the American FARA word-for-word. The terms used in the original US legislation were intentionally preserved to eliminate even the slightest room for speculation. Now, every word, term, and punctuation mark is identical. The Parliament will adapt the terminology to the Georgian context, but everyone agrees that this is the American FARA”, the Speaker said.

“Everyone knows that the United States is a model country. This law is identical to the American one, so if anyone has any complaints, they should criticise America”, Papuashvili continued.

The Parliament Speaker also accused the opposition of creating confusion around the transparency law.

“So far, their only tactic has been to create confusion about the transparency law - spreading lies and disinformation, deceiving their supporters, and sometimes even misleading foreign audiences. Many criticised the law without even reading it. Now, what will they say? Will they claim that the US is bad? They can’t say that now”, Papuashvili concluded.