Georgian Parliament Speaker denounces German Gov’t for concealing domestic NGO funding details

It is unheard of and outrageous that the German Government conceals information from its own Parliament - a supervisory body - on the grounds that there is allegedly some kind of persecution against NGOs in Georgia, said on Thursday Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili.

His comment came in response to the German Government’s refusal to disclose details about which Georgian non-governmental organisations it has funded, for what purposes, and in what amounts.

In his remarks, Papuashvili noted that the response Germany’s Government gave to its own parliament was surprising.

“If such a thing happened here - if the opposition asked the Government a question and the Government responded that it has the information but is withholding it - I can only imagine the reaction from the opposition, the foreign-funded NGOs, and certain ambassadors. They would immediately accuse the government of violating transparency and accountability standards”, the Speaker said.

“We saw that the German Government simply hid information from a member of its own representative body - from a representative of the party that currently enjoys the broadest public support in Germany. So when they speak of transparency and accountability, it seems they apply these principles only to others, not to themselves”, he continued.

Papuashvili called the justification used by the German Government “a mere excuse to hide the real information”.

“The real data is partially visible in their published budgets - and we can see that in 2024, an election year, a record amount of German taxpayer money was spent on Georgian NGOs”, he noted.

The Speaker further recalled the activities of some Georgian NGOs during last year’s elections.

“We all saw what certain Georgian NGOs did during the elections - their direct involvement in the campaign, electoral fraud by ISFED and other so-called observer organisations, and later, their participation in revolutionary attempts and the storming of the Georgian Parliament”, he said.

Papuashvili further criticised Germany’s claim that refusing to disclose the information was based on a “trust-based relationship”.

“In Germany’s international assistance policy, the term ‘trust-based relationship’ indeed exists, but it refers primarily to the relationship between the German and Georgian governments”, he explained.

“Unlike USAID and similar organisations, which have historically spent funds independently, the German government’s policy has always been based on intergovernmental agreements, where every step is coordinated with the partner country. And now we learn that the German government is concealing this information not only from the Georgian people but even from its own oversight members of parliament”, the Speaker continued.

Papuashvili concluded that this case once again demonstrated why a transparency law was crucial.

“We are witnessing dishonest donor practices. One clear example is that the German government spent a record amount of money on Georgian NGOs last year while hiding this information from the Georgian public, the Georgian authorities, the German Parliament, and the German people - whose money it is spending”, he said.

According to the German government, revealing the names of the Georgian NGOs it funds would pose significant risks to their operations and to the safety of individuals working within them.