Parliament Committee Chair hopes EU will set exemplary transparency standards

Levan Makhashvili, the Chair of the Committee on European Integration of the Georgian Parliament, on Tuesday highlighted the fact that the European People’s Party, which strongly criticizes Georgia’s transparency law, was now raising the issue of NGO funding transparency, and expressed hope that the EU would set high transparency standards and expose a European network similar to USAID and NED.

In his remarks, Makhashvili noted that European taxpayers’ money was being used to influence political processes and suppress public voices through NGOs.

“What we’ve always said is now being confirmed: European taxpayers’ money is being used for activities that, through NGOs, seek to silence public voices and influence political processes. This is what’s referred to as “shadow lobbying”, and that’s exactly why this person [Trump] is demanding more transparency from the European Commission and the EU”, the official said.

“What we truly hope for is that the European Union will finally implement exemplary transparency standards and reveal the network in Europe that mirrors what we’ve already seen in the USAID and NED networks”, Makhashvili concluded.