Ruling party official accuses Eurocrats of misleading public on foreign funding

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday voiced sharp criticism toward foreign financial involvement in the country, stressing that claims of hundreds of millions of dollars or euros being spent “for Georgia” were misleading.

In his interview with Imedi TV, Mdinaradze argued that any funds invested in Georgia by foreign entities inherently served the interests of those external actors, not Georgia itself.

“When someone tells you that a country or organisation is spending money in Georgia for Georgia, they are already lying”, the official said.

“We must understand and acknowledge the reality: if any state or organisation spends money from abroad in Georgia, it serves that state’s or organisation’s interests. This is the reality, and we must build the rest of our logic around it. If you are being lied to from the outset, then everything else is false too”, he continued.

Mdinaradze further stressed that the country’s elected Government should act in the national interest.

“If that interest coincides with another country’s, that energy can be used positively. But once you see there is no alignment, and other countries or forces have different interests, you must recognise this and respond accordingly”, the official added.

Mdinaradze further claimed that some actors had resisted transparency in foreign financial flows because the money was being spent on activities they did not want publicly revealed.