Georgian Parliament official slams EU “double standards” over foreign influence law

Archil Gorduladze, the Chair of the Georgian Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, on Friday criticised what he called a “double standard” from European partners regarding foreign influence legislation, highlighting that while the United States is considering strengthening the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), Georgia is being told it cannot adopt an identical law.

Gorduladze’s comments followed a Thursday article by Alain Berset, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, published by Euronews under the title “Democracy is Europe’s First Line of Defence”.

Among other topics, Berset discussed foreign influence laws adopted in different countries worldwide.

The Secretary General noted that what was deemed unacceptable in Georgia or Hungary “should be judged by the same standards” in Germany or Romania, as double standards threatened Europe’s credibility.

“When there are discussions in the US about tightening FARA, we are somehow denied to have a law of the same content in our own country. This is not only a double standard - it’s a collapse of standards altogether”, Gorduladze said.

He further emphasised the importance of objective evaluation from international partners.

“It would be beneficial if, like Berset, others also assessed the decisions made by the Georgian Dream party more objectively and openly spoke about the double standards in Europe”, Gorduladze noted.

“The more people objectively evaluate decisions made by the Georgian Dream and, accordingly, by the Georgian people, the better it will be - for us, for our statehood, and for our relations with partner organisations”, he concluded.